20 years of monitoring declining trend in rainfall, streamflow, groundwater, fish and macroinvertebrates is not an uncommon story and is the story of the Marne Saunders catchment in the Mount Lofty Ranges near Adelaide, a tributary to the River Murray. Peramangk, the First Nations custodians describe what use to be an almost permanently flowing river. Seasonal rainfall in the hills provided groundwater baseflow to the plains below with scar trees along the river bank a reminder of a wetter past. This catchment has undoubtedly transitioned from a gaining to a losing stream. In the 1980's in-stream springs flowed for over 2 km, whereas now they are small pools or cease to exist. Water is predominately used for stock & domestic purposes, licensed commercial production of vineyards in the upper catchment and lucerne grown with groundwater on the flats below. Impacts from land use changes, dams and a drying upper catchment have seen a reduction in the low and medium streamflow. With dams often being dry and groundwater levels dropping - what do you do?
We talk to people, we discuss the science and we recognise the water allocation plan put in place 10 years ago does not sufficiently manage the continuing impacts of climate change. It was considered reviewing the plans every 10 years was an appropriate strategy for responding to climate change. However, water resource modelling relied on historical data that was not representative of the climate experienced during the life of the plan, and the plans do not contain mechanisms for responding adaptively to extreme seasonal conditions. This presentation brings together people, policy and science to demonstrate how this time we are doing things differently and how community solutions are entwined as a first-step risk analysis that will lead the way for better water management outcomes.