Sustainable Rivers Audit

The Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA) provides a long-term assessment of the condition and health of the 23 river valleys in the Murray—Darling Basin.

SRA report 1 was the first published Basin-wide assessment of river health, based on data collected in 2004—07 on three environmental themes: fish, macroinvertebrates and hydrology.

Click here to view SRA report 1, and the new interactive summary report Murray–Darling Basin rivers: ecosystem health check, 2004—2007.

The next SRA report is due in 2011, with assessments based on indicators from five environmental themes — fish, macroinvertebrates, hydrology, vegetation and physical form.

The SRA is overseen by a panel of ecologists, the Independent Sustainable Rivers Audit Group, which reports to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, the Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council and the wider community. Data collection is undertaken using scientific methods applied consistently across the Basin.

The data collected by the SRA is a key input to the Basin Plan and other programs of the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). SRA indicators are being used to evaluate the ecosystem stress for different hydrology scenarios. As well, the data and experience from the SRA are informing the development of the Basin Plan's monitoring and evaluation framework.

The initial conceptual framework for the SRA was developed in 2001 and piloted for three years before starting the program in earnest in 2004. As a Basin-wide river health monitoring program, the SRA is implemented jointly by the governments of the six Basin jurisdictions (Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria, South Australia, and the Australian Government).