Managing risks to water availability

This initiative delivered an improved statewide understanding of the risks to water availability, over a range of time scales, arising from climate variability and land use change. The initiative delivered the Victorian Climate Initiative which was managed in partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO. 

Total project investment: $3.48 m 

2012-13 expenditure: $0.84 m 
2013-14 expenditure: $0.67 m 
2014-15 expenditure: $0.64 m 
2015-16 expenditure: $1.09 m
2016-17 expenditure: $0.25 m

Progress

This initiative was completed in June 2017. Its key achievement was the completion of the Victorian Climate Initiative, which ran from 2013 to 2016 and undertook extensive scientific research into the drivers of Victorian rainfall and the impacts of changes in rainfall on Victorian water resource availability.  

The Victorian Climate Initiative was a partnership between the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO.  It delivered targeted research to improve forecasts of water availability in the short-term (seasonal to interannual timescales), and also underpinned an improved assessment of the risks to water supplies from changes in climate over the medium to longer term. Through the initiative, projections of future rainfall and streamflow availability were developed, along with guidance for water corporations on how they need to carry out future water resource assessment and planning processes. 

A range of activities to better understand and track the impact of land use changes on water resource availability were completed through the initiative.  In addition to studies, activities included installation of groundwater telemetry instrumentation to improve data collection and understanding of land use impacts and climate variability on the resource.