1. Modelling environmental water in Source River System models
Dr Ingrid Takken
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Project partners:
Today I am presenting on a project that aims at the development of new software functionality, in Source. Source is a river system software platform developed and maintained by eWater.
The project is funded by a number of organisations that are involved in planning and delivery of environmental water:
MDBA, OEH, CEWO and DELWP
However, there are a number of additional stakeholders/organisations that also provided inputs to user requirements: VEWH, NSW DPI, SA DEWNR
Do we need ‘author’ names on the Slide?
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

2. River System Models
Hydrological models have been used in the Murray-Darling Basin for more than 40 years, to help understand, plan and manage water resources.
Source is Australia's National Hydrological Modelling Platform
MDBA and State governments are rolling out its application
River system models, are one dimensional model representing a river systems hydrology, as well as all the infrastructure, demands and water sharing rules / policies in place. Such models have been used for more than 40 decades, and have informed key water management policies across the MDB.
Currently, there are 24 individual river system models used to inform development and implementation of key water management policies across the Murray-Darling Basin. The various models have been developed by Basin states, MDBA and Snowy Hydro Limited, and have been used for over 40 years.
These models were developed using different methods and software, which makes it difficult to link the models for whole of Basin assessments and requires specific software and model expertise for each valley. To overcome these issues, MDBA and the States have supported the development of Source, a hydrological modelling platform, which has been developed by eWater between 2005 and  
Source developed has been funded by Commonwealth and State Governments and is now considered Australia’s National Hydrological Modelling Platform. Development of the Source modelling platform is mature, and MDBA and Basin State governments are now rolling out its application, developing new models in Source to ultimately replace the models currently used for water resource planning. The Source model for the Murray and Lower Darling (SMM) is currently being implemented/adopted to support both water resource planning and operations.
Source models are also being developed for other river systems across the Murray-Darling Basin and will over time replace the (MSM-Bigmod, IQQM and REALM) models currently being used for water resource planning.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

3. Environmental water
Over 2000 GL of water recovered across the Murray- Darling Basin
Resides in portfolios with large variety of entitlements, held by Commonwealth and States
Requires careful planning, coordination and delivery
Improved and better integrated modelling capability is required to better inform and support environmental water management
(Include a nice photo?)
Environmental water is now an important component of the river systems in the Murray-Darling basin. The MD Basin Plan requires that 2750 GL of water will be recovered for environmental use basin wide. Currently, over 2000 GL of water has been recovered through water-saving infrastructure and water buybacks across the Basin.
(The Australian Government recoverd water for the environment through either improvements in irrigation infrastructure or water buybacks. 
The Australian Government is investing more than $5 billion in water savings infrastructure and on-farm efficiency projects.
A capped amount of 1,500 GL of water is being purchased from willing sellers in the market.)
Together, the water saved and purchased is building the Australian Government's portfolio of environmental water. Some Basin states, The Living Murray program and other smaller programs also have their own holdings.
This water resides in water portfolios comprising a large number and variety of water entitlements held by the Commonwealth and States.
To achieve the best environmental outcomes, the use of the environmental water needs to be carefully planned, coordinated and delivered.
Governments implement, plan and manage water regimes that recognise the need of the environment (as water user)
The MDBA and States provide guidance on environmental watering priorities, through the Basin Wide Environmental Watering Strategy and annual environmental watering priorities to guide the planning of environmental watering across the basin help achieve the strategy’s long-term environmental outcomes.
Environmental Water Holders manage the portfolio of environmental water for the benefit of the environment. They make water available and deliver water together with river operators, managers, non-government organisations and their local delivery partners.
See:
Research theme 6: Hydrology and Hydrological modelling objective:
Improve capability in tools, techniques and assessment to inform planning and management decision-making in surface and groundwater resources
There is a continuing need to build on modelling capability under development by eWater and funding partners – improved and better integrated modelling capability is required to better understand ecological demand and response to better inform environmental watering
Modelling for Basin Plan developed environmental water demands with tool outside of models. Models would need capacity to model environmental demands based on similar principles used by environmental water planners/holders
The decisions made by environmental water holders have a significant impact on the rest of the system and therefore need to be adequately represented in water planning models. For example, environmental requirements may affect water availability to other entitlement holders by competing for conveyance capacity, altering loss behavior, imposing minimum targets for storages, and changing spill behaviour.
Most of the rivers in the southern Murray-Darling face intense competition between agriculture and the environmental water use (Chartres and Williams, 2006; Western et al. 2011). In order to achieve best outcomes for both agriculture and environment, innovative planning and management of water resources are essential. Integration of comprehensive environmental water management can help policy makers analyse the best way to use entitlements of environmental water holders across the system, and prioritise environmental flow events across the catchment. 
Flow regimes are dynamic across multiple time scales and lead to a range of interconnected ecological responses which are often challenging to express. The desire to replicate historical watering of an asset or antecedent conditions can result in a need to create rules to replicate complicated patterns. The specification of the water requirements and the operating rules for delivering water to these assets can be complex. 
Water holders and water managers coordinate the delivery of environmental water with irrigation demands and rainfall. The best outcomes for plants and animals occur when environmental water passes through rivers and wetlands in ways that mimic natural conditions. Flexible and opportunistic management achieves significant environmental results.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

4. Project Objective Objective
Develop Environmental Flow functionality in Source that will enable modelling of environmental flows, so that benefits and potential third party impact of different environmental flow scenarios can be assessed
Current Source functionality allows environmental flow rules to be implemented at individual points within the system, but the modelling cannot easily be configured to reflect the interconnected, spatially and temporally diverse nature of ecological system requirements. This means that, presently, the functionality in Source is not sufficient to represent current and future practise.
This project involves the development of an Environmental Flow Module/functionality in Source that will enable the representation of environmental flows in the models, so that the environmental benefits and potential third-party impacts of different environmental flow scenarios (on environmental water holders and the rest of the system) can be tested and evaluated. This will be a valuable tool to support environmental water planning and river operations under Basin Plan implementation.
This project is to develop the functionality required to fully realise a fit for purpose modelling framework for water resources planning and management that enables the representation of planning, use and accounting of environmental water, and that can be used to carry out an analysis of alternative policy scenarios for water allocation and use. 
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

5. Project Methods Methods
Collaboration between environmental water holders and planning organisations to compile and prioritise user requirements
Development of conceptual model based on user requirements
Implementation of functionality in Source software
Software testing
Documentation and training
Maybe make some sort of animation for this slide(?) -- Mention all organisations that contributed (not just funding partners)? (Could I use logos??)
This project is a collaborative project between MDBA, and environmental water holders and planning organisations/departments, including our project partners (OEH, CEWO, DELWP), and other stakeholders (VEWH, DPI Water, DEWNR, Melbourne Water)
To clearly articulate partner user requirements for the purposes of evaluating and adjusting the proposed new functionality, information was gathered through several consultation meetings. This resulted in a long wish list of user requirements, which have been compiled and prioritised, in agreement with the partners. (This has been a good opportunity for environmental water holders and planners to work together, share ideas and get on the same page.)
This has informed the development of the conceptual model for the functionality.
Based on user requirements a conceptual model for the Env Flow Module has been developed, which is currently being implemented by eWater software developers.
The software is tested using flow requirements and rules provide by project partners. Hereto, simple test models are developed. Testing will also be done using the Source Murray Model
In addition, this project will provide training to modelling staff at MDBA and partner organisations to support wider application of Source models in environmental planning and delivery.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

6. Key user requirements Ability to:
generate environmental flow demands based on specified watering actions
represent environmental entitlements and portfolios, and set priorities for use
coordinate water delivery from specified portfolios
allow planning and prioritisation of many different water needs at a site and between sites
coordinate environmental releases along the river
account for environmental water use
Meeting with project partners and other stakeholders an extensive list of user requirements was put together and prioritized.
Some of the key requirements are summarized here, with many more detailed requirements formulated under these or additional main requirements.
In general, the majority of environmental flow sharing rules that currently exist in major jurisdictional basin plans should be able to be represented with the proposed core functionality. The new functionality will need to address management of environmental entitlements across a range of sites and for different purposes.
It is important that these models can be used by MDBA, State governments and environmental water holders to assist with the planning and delivery of environmental water. To facilitate this, an Environmental Flow Module (EFM) is developed in Source, which allows users to set-up and test relevant environmental watering scenarios.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

7. Environmental flow demands
Desired flow regime
Desired flow events / actions
Important flow types (from Basin-Wide environmental watering strategy):
Baseflow – provide long term drought refuge for fish
Freshes (rice in river height for few days after rain) – allow fish movement, redistribute food, provide soil moisture for riverside plants
Bank full flows – recharge wetlands, important for floodplain vegetation, fish and waterbirds, as well as productivity
All these sort of flows with certain timing and duration (together the flow regime) are important for different environmental purposes
Environmental water planners specify desired environmental watering actions representing different parts of the flow regime.
For example some rules for Chowilla (20000 ML/d) is a fresh rule
For each site there would could be a number of rules for different purposes
Translucency rules:
A transparent flow occurs in a regulated river system when inflows are passed through a regulating structure – usually a dam – to enable a near-natural flow pulse into the river system. A translucent flow is similar, however only a portion of the inflow volume is passed. (
Flow (ML/day)
Duration
Timing
Frequency (% of years)
20,000
60 days
August to December
80%
40,000
30 days
June to December
70%
60,000
33%
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

8. Planning and Prioritisation
Environmental demand and water available influence the purpose of Commonwealth environmental water management
Various water actions are desired at a particular frequency (e.g. once in 3 years), and time since last watering (as surrogate for condition) may inform when watering would be required.
However, the delivery of very large flow events (e.g. 80,000 ML/d at Chowilla) would need to be opportunistic. Rather than using conditions (or time since last watering), you would try to deliver the event any time an opportunity arises, which would rely on water availability and flow triggers.
Matrix is showing how CEWO undertakes planning based on two factors: The first is demand according to environmental conditions. The second is water availability to meet demands.
By considering these factors CEWO can determine an overall purpose ranging from ‘avoiding damage’ through ‘protect and maintain’ to ‘improving ecological condition’.
See documents about portfolio management on CEWO website.
The software should be able to represent such a decision making framework.

9. Conceptual model BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | 18 - 20 SEPTEMBER 2017
The environmental flow Module will have two main components:
The EFN and EFM, which will interact with each other and the existing functionality available in Source.
The Environmental Demand Node is designed to generate an environmental water requirements for an individual asset. It operates by identifying and generating demands, and ordering water to meet these demands, based on user defined environmental flow rules/actions.
The EFM includes functionality to prioritise and roster environmental demands and account for use from different types of water entitlements.
Phases in Source (every timestep):
Resource assessment to determine water available.
Constraints phase: It goes through the system from top to bottom to determine minimum and maximum flow constraints/expected flows.
Ordering phase: It goes from bottom up and determines the orders required to meet demands
Flow phase: water is being delivered
The Env Flow functionality interacts with this system.
The EFN is located at a site and determines water needs for that site
The EFM is an overarching manager that will do the prioritising of all the different demands
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

10. Environmental flow node
Sits at specific site in flow network
Creates demands and orders based on desired flow actions
The user configures the actions:
Translucency flow
Minimum flow
Flood/Fresh flow
Keeps track of success and condition
It is important that these models can be used by MDBA, State governments and environmental water holders to assist with the planning and delivery of environmental water. To facilitate this, an Environmental Flow Module (EFM) is developed in Source, which allows users to set-up and test relevant environmental watering scenarios. The EFM includes functionality to define environmental flow rules, prioritise and roster environmental demands and account for use from different types of water entitlements.
This presentation will demonstrate the EFM functionality and show a number of examples of its application within the Source Murray Model.
Local on-ground knowledge is important for detailing a specific watering action including the flow magnitude, timing, triggers for commencement, rates of rise and fall and the area to be inundated.
The Environmental Demand Model is designed to generate an environmental water requirement for an individual asset. It operates by identifying and generating demands and ordering water to meet these demands.
EFN will have ability to specify different types of flow rules:
Translucency rules
Flood/Fresh/Minimum flow rules
Give examples of each?
Actions are defined at environmental flow nodes and consist of a set of criteria (system conditions), target response, defined success, and condition function.
Environmental flow nodes keep track of the condition associated with the actions. The condition is calculated by default by dividing the number of days since last success by the desired return interval, but can be replaced by a used specified condition function.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY

11. Environmental Flow Manager – Planning and prioritising
EFM – The shopping trolley model
It is important that these models can be used by MDBA, State governments and environmental water holders to assist with the planning and delivery of environmental water. To facilitate this, an Environmental Flow Module (EFM) is developed in Source, which allows users to set-up and test relevant environmental watering scenarios. The EFM includes functionality to define environmental flow rules, prioritise and roster environmental demands and account for use from different types of water entitlements.
This presentation will demonstrate the EFM functionality and show a number of examples of its application within the Source Murray Model.
The main function of the environmental flow manager is to prioritise and activate actions based on a priority purchasing style conceptual model.
The EFM prioritises the actions (or groups of actions) based on the condition of the asset multiplied by a user defined importance weighting. (Condition is tracked by EFN)
The importance weighting is calculated using a user defined function, which allows flexibility in the way the events are prioritised and coordinated.
The Environmental Flow Manager will determine whether there is sufficient water available to meet the action/group's needs in priority order, decreasing the amount available to each subsequent priority as the group above reserves water. To do this, the EFM steps through the ranked action list and compares the cost of the action (ie. the volume of water required to deliver the action) to the available water in the portfolios of accounts that can be accessed by the action. If enough water is available, the EFM will commit the water required to meet the estimated cost (i.e. subtracts the volume from the water available), so that the committed water is not available for actions with lower importance. The environmental flow manager flags the action as active to the EFN. The environmental flow manager does not execute actions, it gives permission to the environmental flow node to evaluate the criteria of the flagged (committed) rule and initiate a target response (eg. place an order) when appropriate. Accounts are not debited until after a managed target response is executed.

12. Test case 1: Murrumbidgee WSP – translucency rules
Blowering Dam
When natural inflows to dam < 560 MG/d, release flow >= natural inflow + use between dam and confluence
When natural inflows > 560 ML/d, release 560 ML/d + use between dam and confluence
No use modelled in simple test model
Release = Max(560, Natural inflow)
I will be showing some preliminary results of EFN functionality
EFM still under development
Murrumbidgee water sharing plan includes ‘Plannend environmental water rules’ for flows downstream of the two dams.
Flow rules downstream Blowering are relatively simple
Animated the GUI image

13. Test case 1: Murrumbidgee WSP – translucency rules
GUI for translucency rules

14. Test case 1: Murrumbidgee WSP – translucency rules
Slide is animated
Front graph shows Natural inflow and demand
Second graph shows modelled flows without and with the demand
Note that example here is very simple for demonstration purposes. The WSP rules downstream of Burrinjuck dam are much more complex. These rules can be implemented through the function editor, in which you can set-up functions that make use of a number of variables and/or other functions. This provides great flexibility in determining flow rules.

15. Test case 1: Murrumbidgee WSP – translucency rules
Rules for Burrinjuck dam are more complex - but can be coded with functions
Could leave out – just to show you can add complexity

16. Test case 2: Murray from Hume to Yarrawonga
Flood/Fresh rule example:
High Flow Extend
Rule specifications
Frequency
All years
Trigger Flow
40,000 ML/d
Timing window to commence event
July to October
Target flow at Yarra DS
Duration
28 days
Animated the GUI in – but may leave out
Yarrawonga
Env. Flow Node

17. Test case 2: Murray from Hume to Yarrawonga
Animated the GUI in – but may leave out (or put in updated version when GUI later)

18. Test case 2: Murray from Hume to Yarrawonga
Order starts day after flow threshold of 40,000 ML/d has been reached, and continues for 28 days (no rise and fall modelled)

19. Conclusions
Environment is now a major water user and has a significant portfolio of entitlements
Current water resource models have no functionality to represent environmental flows
Source functionality developed under this project will allow representation of environmental water planning, delivery and accounting and will be a valuable tool to support environmental water planning and river operations in the future
We are getting close in having the functionality required to be able to model environmental flows
Source provides the platform, but modellers will need to develop and configure models, which will require significant effort
Planning and managing environmental water will evolve over time – and modelling can support this
We are at the start of a long and exiting journey
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA | SEPTEMBER 2017
MANAGED BY