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Spatial Tool for Estimating Dam Impacts (STEDI)

STEDI is a water balance model that can simulate individual dams within a catchment using:

  • streamflows
  • dam sizes and location
  • water-use demands
  • rainfall
  • evaporation.

STEDI was developed by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) in conjunction with Jacobs' (previously Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM)). It is distributed as public domain software and is a free download.

The public release of STEDI responds to widespread concerns about the possible impact of farm dams on water entitlements and environmental flows and the growing need to accurately represent farm dam impacts in the face of climate change.

When using STEDI, you can enter as much information about dam size, catchment areas and on-farm demands as is available. You can also spatially configure a network of dams in a catchment so that upstream dams influence inflows.

STEDI can run at a daily, weekly, or monthly timestep and, given the proper inputs, can model:

  • low flow bypasses around farm dams
  • farm dams that are manually topped-up by pumping, for example, from a local watercourse
  • changes in water use demands
  • the effects on flows from one dam to another through the catchment.

Download STEDI

To download STEDI, visit Jacobs Natural Resource Management.

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Page last updated: 08/09/23