<
https://theconversation.com/dams-have-taken-half-the-water-from-australias-second-biggest-river-and-climate-change-will-make-it-even-worse-242192>
"The largest wetland on Australia’s second longest river, the Murrumbidgee in
the southern Murray-Darling Basin, is drying up. This is bad news for the
plants, animals and people who rely on the vast Lowbidgee Floodplain. So it’s
important to understand what is going on, and whether we can do anything about
it.
Our new research used computer modelling to study past and future river flows.
We examined natural flows in the lower Murrumbidgee River between 1890 and
1927, before humans started changing the river. We compared these flows to what
happened after big dams went in and more water was taken out for irrigation.
Then, we modelled how climate change is likely to influence flows in future.
We found river regulation such as dams and reservoirs cut flows in half over
the past three decades. It means periods between life-giving floods on the
wetlands are now more than twice as long. With climate change, drying of these
vital freshwater ecosystems is likely to accelerate.
Altogether, we predict the annual duration of flood events sustaining these
wetlands will drop by as much as 85% by 2075 compared to natural levels, if
nothing is done. But there are plenty of things we can do to turn this around,
because our research shows the main reason for the decline is river regulation
and overextraction."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
