Murray-Darling Basin Valley Boundaries For Environmental Water Monitoring

Spatial valley boundaries for the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, used to support environmental water monitoring and research. The dataset was created by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder's Flow-MER program and was updated in April 2026. It modifies the Sustainable Rivers Audit valleys for water accounting and program evaluation.

Use Cases

• Delineate water accounting units for the Flow-MER program using the valley boundary polygons.
• Partition the Basin's Selected Areas for the Long Term Intervention Monitoring project based on the valley geometries.
• Analyze spatial relationships between environmental water use and valley-scale ecological features using the provided geospatial layers.
• Align hydrological models with administrative reporting boundaries by incorporating the modified SRA valley dataset.

Strengths

• Data is provided in multiple standard geospatial formats including GeoJSON and SHP for interoperability.
• Dataset is actively maintained, with a last update recorded in April 2026.

Limitations

• The specific number of polygons (rows) and their attribute columns are unknown, limiting assessment of granularity.
• The dataset's derivation from the Sustainable Rivers Audit may introduce legacy classification biases.
• Geographic scope is limited solely to the Murray-Darling Basin, restricting broader application.

Provenance

Source

Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Collection Method

Modified from the Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA) valley boundaries.

Freshness

Updated April 2026.

Geography

Murray-Darling Basin, Australia.