Helping to improve the management of Australias longest river

State Water Corporation of New South Wales used our modelling expertise to develop a system to improve management of Australia’s longest river. The 1,600 km long Murrumbidgee River is an important source of water for irrigation, urban water supplies and river wetlands. It is also very complex. This complexity often results in excess water being released – and subsequently lost – to the river system.

To improve management of the Murrumbidgee River, State Water developed a Computer Aided River Management (CARM) system. CARM allows for:

• an overview of measured and forecasted data
• online optimisation of weir and dam set points
• efficient river operation leading to savings in head work releases
• accurate description of the processes in the river 

CARM’s backbone comprises our real-time, fully hydrodynamic models. Our MIKE CUSTOMISED Platform integrates the models with real-time data, ensuring that they operate with the most recent information on:

• catchment rainfall
• irrigation demands
• river flows 

By giving river operators accurate information on the present state of the river, they can schedule water releases when required. This ensures that the correct amount of water reaches those who need it. The result: a decrease in the amount of water lost due to evaporation and evapotranspiration.