Evaluation of Glenelg Hopkins Regional River Health Strategy

Rivers and waterways make up only a small portion of the Victorian landscape and yet their overall significance for the economy, the ecology and the social fabric of Victoria is immense. Virtually all values are reliant to some extent on a healthy waterway which can be affected by many threatening processes including, declining water quality, salinity, modified flow regimes, loss of riparian vegetation, poor land management practices, climate change and fragmentation of floodplains and wetlands.

The Victorian Government produced the Victorian River Health Strategy (VRHS) to provide high level guidance to waterway management across the state and in the Glenelg Hopkins catchment this was followed by the development of a regional River Health Strategy (RHS) by the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority.

Significantly, these strategies have been produced in the context that the science of river health is not complete and, as managers, we operate within the constraint of ‘imperfect knowledge’ of our waterway systems. Nevertheless, these strategies are vital to capture current knowledge, identify priorities and help waterway managers to understand the level of investment required to protect healthy waterways and restore those that are degraded.

Alluvium was engaged by DSE to evaluate the how closely the RHS guides the activities of GHCMA and whether the activities of CMA are making efficient and effective progress toward RHS goals. This project was the first of its type to attempt to understand the effectiveness of implementation of a regional RHS in Victoria.