Environment

Bureau’s portal assists water decisions

By Geoff Adams

Jun 24, 2022

An image of the new Bureau of Meteorology information portal.

The Bureau of Meteorology has improved access to critical basin information to help with decision making, with the release of the next version of the Murray-Darling Basin Water Information Portal.

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BOM agriculture and water general manager Matt Coulton said the portal now included 29 catchments and supported decision-making for water users by providing access to water information such as availability, allocation volumes, water take, water trade and prices, and weather and climate information in the basin.

“Version two of the MDB WIP is the result of a lot of community outreach and engagement and responding to what water users in the basin need from the portal,’’ Mr Coulton said.

"In addition to other features, the latest update now has 200 river gauges added to the map, with river height and flow data.”

Other updates include:

Salinity data for 100 sites.
Year-to-date usage and availability for each catchment.
More data on water markets, including price and volume traded.
Water storage totals at northern and southern basin levels.

Work on the MDB WIP is led by BOM, Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water in partnership with basin state governments.

This is the second of five release stages, with updates reflecting feedback from basin water users.

Feedback can be provided through the website at: https://mdbwip.bom.gov.au/ or email: water@bom.gov.au

The Murray-Darling Basin Water Information Portal is available at: https://mdbwip.bom.gov.au/