Hydrology and climate science research

The Victorian Government’s investment in climate, hydrology and water resources research provides important information for long-term planning and climate change adaptation. This work forms part of our Water for Victoria commitment to continue to build our understanding of how climate change will affect our water resources (Action 2.2). The research also supports the Water Sector Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan  (or accessible version ), which commits to further actions to deliver more resilient services to water sector customers.

VicWaCl

As a part of the Victorian Government’s implementation of these commitments, the Victorian Water and Climate Initiative (VicWaCI) was established in 2017. VicWaCI was overseen by the Hydrology and Climate Science branch of DELWP’s Water and Catchments Group.

Research findings from the first phase of VicWaCl (2017-20) were brought together in Victoria’s Water in a Changing Climate (PDF, 10.5 MB) (accessible version (DOCX, 2.8 MB)), released in December 2020. These findings were also used in the 2020 update to the Guidelines for Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Water Availability in Victoria, which present a consistent approach for applying climate change scenarios across water resource modelling and planning.

VicCl

The Victorian Climate Initiative (VicCI) was a climate and hydrology research program that preceded VicWaCI. In addition to the tailored climate research for the water sector, DELWP has also invested in developing projections of climate as part of the Victorian Climate Projections 2019.

These programs have all improved our understanding of the impacts of climate on our water resources. Findings have been utilised across a variety of spaces including:

More information

Contact the Hydrology and Climate Science team on HSC.Team@delwp.vic.gov.au.