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DWE Home > Home > Water Management > Water for the environment > Integrated monitoring of Environmental Flows (IMEF)

Water for the environment

About IMEF

As environmental knowledge and awareness grew in the 1990s, it was recognised that toxic blue-green algal blooms, loss of native fish and waterbird populations, rising salinity and other adverse environmental outcomes would become more prevalent in New South Wales unless water was shared in an equitable manner between extractive users and the environment.

The NSW Government responded to this challenge by introducing environmental flow rules in our major regulated river systems and the Barwon-Darling River in 1997 (the Macquarie and Gwydir River valleys had environmental flow rules prior to this). More recently the arrangements to ensure that water is allocated to the environment have been formalised through statutory water sharing plans for much of the State.

IMEF is a systematic scientific program to assess the diversity of ecosystem responses to the provision of environmental water in these valleys. Without such feedback, efficient sharing of water is impossible. IMEF began in 1997 and is managed by the New South Wales Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with support from Department of Primary Industries, university researchers and both government and private analytical laboratories. IMEF also contributes to our broader knowledge and understanding of the biodiversity and ecological processes in New South Wales rivers and wetlands.

For more details about the objectives and studies in IMEF, see IMEF an Overview Brochure (PDF 1.2MB)