A Classification of Floodplains and Wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin Based on Changes in Flows Following Water Resource Development

Wetlands ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil C. Sims ◽  
Anthony A. Chariton ◽  
Huidong Jin ◽  
Matthew J. Colloff
2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Balcombe ◽  
Fran Sheldon ◽  
Samantha J. Capon ◽  
Nick R. Bond ◽  
Wade L. Hadwen ◽  
...  

Many aquatic ecosystems have been severely degraded by water-resource development affecting flow regimes and biological connectivity. Freshwater fish have been particularly affected by these changes and climate change will place further stress on them. The Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), Australia, represents a highly affected aquatic system with dramatically modified flow regimes. This has impaired the health of its rivers, and potentially limited the adaptive capacity of its biota to respond to a changing climate. Here, we present our predictions of the potential impacts of climate change on 18 native fish species across their distributional ranges against the back-drop of past and continuing water-resource development (WRD). Because most of these species are found across a wide range of geographical and hydrological settings, we classified the MDB into 10 regions to account for likely variation in climate-change effects, on the basis of latitude, elevation and WRD. Cold water-tolerant species will be under greater stress than are warm water-tolerant species. In some regions, the negative impacts on exotic fish such as trout are likely to improve current conditions for native species. Because the impacts of climate change on any given species are likely to vary from region to region, regional fish assemblages will also be differentially affected. The most affected region is likely to occur in the highly disturbed Lower Murray River region, whereas the dryland rivers that are less affected in the northern MDB are likely to remain largely unchanged. Although climate change is a current and future threat to the MDB fish fauna, the continued over-regulation of water resources will place as much, if not more, stress on the remnant fish species.


2013 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian R.W. Reid ◽  
Matthew J. Colloff ◽  
Anthony D. Arthur ◽  
Heather M. McGinness

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 355-360
Author(s):  
E D Oruonye ◽  
E Bange

This study examined the challenges of water resource development and management in Zing town,Taraba State, Nigeria. The study considered issues of sources of water supply in Zing town, the nature of water challenges, impacts of the water challenges on the socio-economic life of the people, water management strategies and prospect of urban water resource development in the study area. 110 questionnaires were systematically administered in ten streets that were purposively selected in Zing town. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result of the finding indicates that majority (45.5%) of the respondent have their water source from borehole, 18.2% streams, 18.2% hand dug wells and 9.1% from other sources (mostly water vendors). The study shows that 68.2% of the respondents had their water point located outside their households, while only 31.8% claimed to have their water sources located within their compounds (this is mostly hand dug wells). The nature of water challenge in the area ranges from severe (50%), not severe (27.3%) and normal (22.7%). The results also shows that only 34% of respondents claimed to have access to sufficient water daily, while 66% of the respondents hardly have access to sufficient water on daily basis. The study shows that the water management strategy adopted mostly by the respondent ranges from storing water in large container (48.2%), reduce water use (29.1%), increase amount spent on water (13.6%) and others 9.1% (mainly re-use of water). The prospect of water resource development in the study area is very bright with the proposal of a small earth dam in Monkin settlement by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Monkin small earth dam which is meant to generate 500KW of electricity can be integrated into an urban water supply project in the area. This will assure more reliable water supply all year round. It will also help to overcome some of the challenges of servicing the hand pumps which rendered them inadequate when they break down. This study recommends the need to replace the old and obsolete borehole equipment with new ones and increase the number of boreholes to meet the increasing water demand in the area.


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