Index Of Stream Condition : The Third Benchmark Of Victorian River Condition.

Index of Stream Condition The Third Benchmark of Victorian River Condition ISC3 Ministerial Foreword Healthy rivers are important to all Victorians and communities are always keen to know more about the condition of their local waterways. Comprehensive and up-to-date information about the condition of Victoria’s rivers also is vital to support the development of state policy and regional waterway management programs and to assess progress against targets for improving river health. The Index of Stream Condition (ISC) report reveals that waterway health has remained stable and there have been no substantial changes in condition since the second benchmark in 2004. Across Victoria, 23 per cent of stream length assessed was in good or excellent condition. This is an encouraging finding because data for the 2010 benchmark was collected over a six-year period that coincided with the prolonged drought, from 1997 to 2009. This third ISC benchmark report is another valuable addition to Victoria’s waterway reporting. The ISC provides a state-wide snapshot of river condition and data, providing a good understanding of ongoing river health. A major advancement for the third benchmark report has been to use remote sensing technology to cover 29,000 km of rivers and streams across Victoria. This exercise has been the largest operational demonstration of this type anywhere in Australia. This approach has delivered an unprecedented amount of data on the condition of our major rivers and streams. In addition, the remote sensing data is being used to improve flood risk mapping and flood warning systems, which will significantly cut the cost of floods to the community and the government. The Hon Peter Walsh MLA The Hon Ryan Smith MP Advancing the use of remote sensing technology for the ISC continues to improve Victoria’s approach to collecting river condition data and management of regional waterways. Condition monitoring is just one part of the broader Victorian Waterway Management Program, which aims to improve the environmental condition of waterways to support environmental, social, cultural and economic values. Other elements of the program include: • a state policy framework with an evidence-based, adaptive management approach; • new regional Waterway Strategies being prepared to identify priority management activities in each region for the next eight years; • more than 600 GL of environmental water held by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder; and • significant Victorian Government commitment and investment to improve waterway condition since 2011. All of these activities play a vital role in maintaining the health and resilience of our waterways. The next step is to work with local communities to build on this result, particularly through the ten regional Waterway Strategies, which are now being developed to guide the Victorian Government’s continuing investment in priority waterway health programs. This report is an important source of information for the future management of Victoria’s rivers and we congratulate everyone who has contributed to its compilation. We encourage you to read this report and learn more about the health of your local rivers. The Hon Peter Walsh MLA Minister for Water The Hon Ryan Smith MP Minister for Environment and Climate Change Contents Introduction and history 2 North East Region 14 Goulburn Broken Region 26 North Central Region 36 Mallee Region 48 Wimmera Region 58 East Gippsland Region 68 West Gippsland Region 80 Port Phillip Region 92 Corangamite Region 106 Glenelg Hopkins Region 120 Appendix 1 131 Appendix 2 132 Cover Images: LiDAR i