AUSTRALIA WIDE ASSESSMENT OF RIVER HEALTH

摘要

Since European settlement, the development of Australia's land and water resources has adversely affected river health through: altering flow regimes; decreasing water quality; reducing or impairing riparian and in-stream habitat and loss of aquatic biodiversity. Early in the 1990s the Australian Government established the National River Health Program as a response to the 1000 km Darling River algal bloom but also as a first step in slowing and hopefully reversing declining river health. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the history and status of the subsequent national and regional river health assessment processes across Australia, summaries river health assessment results and discusses future issues for river health assessment.