Environmental Flows Assessment Program (EFAP)

Program start date

2005 (Officially termed EFAP in 2007)

Program end date

Ongoing

Objectives of the program

To assess the effectiveness of the rules and strategies specified under the Water Resource Plans and Resource Operations Plans in achieving the ecological outcomes stipulated within each Water Resource Plan. Note: EFAP is a performance monitoring program, with projects designed to test particular hypotheses. Some activities may be considered research rather than monitoring; however, all projects sit within a common framework with common objectives.

Who is involved?

Lead organisation

Department of Natural Resources and Mines

Contact details of lead organisation: water.monitoring♲dnrm.qld.gov.au

Partner organisations

There are no defined partner organisations, but the program encourages collaborative research. Partner organisations that have collaborated in past include Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge, eWater CRC, Griffith University, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, Sinclair Knight Merz, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australian National University, University of Queensland, Seqwater and various Natural Resource Management groups.    

List of indicators monitored

There are no generic indicators that are measured in the program. The indicators and design of each monitoring project within the program vary according to the flow management strategies, Resource Operations Plan rules and water resource plan ecological outcomes being assessed.

Scale of program

Water resource plan basin scale

Brief description of sampling locations

All basins with a water resource plan are covered under EFAP; however, the location of monitoring is directed by the level of water resource development, availability of resources and the locations of ecological outcomes and strategies that require monitoring.

Frequency of monitoring

The frequency of monitoring varies for each project, from a single visit to multiple visits over time. Although EFAP is ongoing, individual projects are generally discrete and end after one to three years.

Where is the program reported?

A Risk-Based Ecohydrological Approach to Assessing Environmental Flow Regimes

EFAP Summary Reports

Annual report Queensland's water resource plans

Scientific papers, for example:

• Assessing the Potential for Radiocarbon Dating the Scales of Australian Lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri)
• Riverine flow and spawning requirements of Macquaria ambigua oriens: the importance of recognising localised species adaptations
• Regional panmixia in the mullet, Mugil cephalus L., along the east-Australian coast, revealed using six highly polymorphic microsatellite loci

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Last updated: 22 March 2013