Title

FLOWS Assessed River Reaches 

Alternate title

FLOWS_RIVER_REACHES 

Resource Type

Dataset  

Purpose

The dataset contains the following attribute fields: AssessedAr = the river basin name as indicated by the FLOWS report title Reach Name = corresponds to the reach name as described in the relevant FLOWS report CtFlow_Mag = Cease to Flow Magnitude (ML/day) CtFlow_Frq = Cease to Flow Frequency CtFlow_Dur = Cease to Flow Duration LF_Mag = Low Flow Magnitude (ML/day) LF_Frq = Low Flow Frequency LF_Duration = Low Flow Duration WB_Mag = Winter Baseflow Magnitude (ML/day) WB_Frq = Winter Baseflow Frequency WB_Dur = Winter Baseflow Duration Reference = author of the FLOWS study 

Supplemental Information

Related Documents: None Relevant environmental flow reports for each catchment can be accessed at: http://www.water.vic.gov.au/environment/rivers/flows/environmental-flow-studies 

Status

Completed  

Time period

2002-06-302012-04-30 

Spatial representation type

Vector  

Code

4283 

Description

General - Victoria 

N

S

E

W

 

Maintenance and update frequency

As needed  

Topic category

• Inland waters
• Biota

Use limitation

General 

Classification

Unclassified  

Statement

Dataset Source: The FLOWS method refers to ‘natural’ and ‘current’ flow regime. The natural flow regime is defined as the flows that would exist if no diversions or storage or water occurred. Importantly, the natural flow regime accepts that there have been changes in flow associated with landuse alterations -- it is not the flow regime that would have existed prior to European settlement. Thirty-one FLOWS assessments have been conducted for river basins in Victoria. The Environmental Flow Recommendations provided for each of these catchments, was extracted from each relevant report and collated to produce a GIS layer. The base layer to which the FLOWS data was attributed, was the Index of Stream Condition (ISC) dataset as it was found that in many instances the defined FLOWS reaches corresponded to an ISC reach. In some instances the ISC reaches were edited (i.e. split or joined) to represent the true FLOWS reach as described in the corresponding FLOWS report. The GIS layer provides the FLOWS results for each of the river reaches assessed, including the magnitude, frequency and duration of the cease to flow, summer low flow and winter low flow components. Flow recommendations are made for the following components: cease to flow, low flow, freshes, high flow, bankfull flows and overbank flows. The FLOWS dataset attributes mapped river reaches with information obtained from the FLOWS reports regarding the cease to flow and low flow recommendations. The flow recommendations are linked to reach specific environmental objectives. The objectives are developed for; individual species and communities, habitats, ecological processes Flow recommendations are (typically) made at stream gauge sites but are assumed to apply to an entire reach. The flow recommendations made for each of the flow components are defined as: a volume (ML/day) and a frequency (number of occurrences per year) and a duration (number of days or months). Dataset Originality: Derived 

Classification

Unclassified