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My name is Lindsey Schnelle I am a Junior at Washington State University Pullman and have recently switched my major from Chemistry to Earth and Environmental Science. My Transboundary Watershed Project is based on Australia's largest watershed, the Murray Darling Basin. Pictured below is an image of myself to help put a face to my name as we go through this presentation. Please continue reading to find out more about my assigned basin, and what I believe society must due to instill a healthy sustainable planet.

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Attached is an image of the basins size in relation to the country of Australia. Located in the South East of Australia, the Murray Darling Basin occupies about a fifth of Australia's land.
Image: Murray Darling Basin in Australia

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Size: More than 1 million square kilometers

Volume of drainage: 27,086 ft/sec

Average precipitation: 471 mm

Eastern side average: 1,500 mm

Western side average: 300 mm

Projected precipitation changes:

Besides the wavering levels of precipitation between the regions of the basin, 94% of the water that does enter the system is either evaporated from the surface or used up by plants. Rivers and streams flow slow and warm temperatures create high levels of evaporation.

Average temperature range: 50 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit

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Human residence: 2 million

The humans that live in, around, and use the basin all effect the water quality within the system. Pesticides, fertilizer, car oil, and every other chemical that comes with humans and urbanization has took a tole on Murray Darling. The extent of the pollution became evident in 2010.

Image: Australia's Murray-Darling basin

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Water uses:

Residential: Water is used by the people who live on it for day to day, and urban city purposes.

Agricultural: 40% of Australia's agriculture is within the Murray Darling Basin. Farms use a huge amount of the watersheds water supply to irrigate crops and for livestock. They also use mass amounts of fertilizer and pesticide that will eventually make their way to the main basin water source.

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Threats to water security: Water Security is tested each year. The basin experiences inconsistent levels of precipitation, year to year, accompanied with high levels of evaporation and there is not much water left to go around. Overuse by farmers and residents, another drought, or another black water episode all test water security.

Image: Rivers & Streams that Feed Murray Darling

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Around 80% of the basin land is farms, an estimated 61,000 separate farms, and over 100 different crops and livestock. Livestock, sheep and cattle predominately, are a huge commodity raised in the basin. Small rivers and streams coupled with nutrient dense soil, make the Murray Darling an excellent location for agriculture. Row crops such as wheat, barley, rice, cotton, fruits and vegetables, and even lumber consume huge amounts of the watersheds water.
Image: Cattle Raised in Murray Darling

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Weather greatly effects life in the basin since much of it is farm land. Many farms do not irrigate and rely solely on rainfall to give their crops and livestock the necessary water. But in this watershed, precipitation has been very unpredictable and changing year to year, this has led to episodes of drought and flooding.

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This watershed is not just an agriculture powerhouse for the country in which it resides, but the whole world. The basin produces many commodities that are exported all over the planet. Data shows that the basin produces enough rice to feed 20 million people each day, year round.
Image: Wheat Fields in Murray Darling

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The Australian Pelican, Golden Perch, Corroboree Frog, Murray Cod, Barking Owl, Imperial White Butterfly and Bogong Moth are all native species to the Murray Darling Basin. They all contribute to sustaining a healthy ecosystem. When humans cause changes to their ecosystem each organism is affected, because each element in a habitat is connected.
Image: Murray Cod

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The basin is large and diverse with many different habitat regions. Herblands, sedgelands, shrublands, grasslands, woodlands, and riverine forests all make up the watershed. Oak, Red Gum, Coolibah, Black Box, and Willow trees are all present in the basin. Goosefoot, Bloack Roly Poly, Old Man Saltbush, and Lignum bushes are a few bush species that can all be found. Grasses include Warrego, Cane, Curly Mitchell, Spiny Mudgrass, and Rats Tail. Other plants include the Darling Lily, Spikerush sedge, and Cumbungi. These are just a few of the many plant species that contribute to the biodiversity within the watershed.
Image: Water Clover

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In 2010 the basin was lifted from a long drought by above average amounts of rainfall. The basin had been in a drought for years, when the rain came it hit hard and the basin flooded. This cycle of flooding - droughts is common for Murray Darling, but the drought that occured had been much longer than most. All of the flood water eventually made its way back to the Darling and Murray rivers, the two major rivers in the system. As the flood water rushed to the rivers it picked up all of the sediment and nutrients in its path. Mass amounts of carbon from fertilizer and pesticides applied to the basins crops were now in the basins major water supply.

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High levels of carbon in water create something called black water. Black water has low levels of oxygen since there is an excess of carbon in the system. Oxygen is needed by both aquatic plants and organisms to survive. This event lead to the death of many plants an animals effecting biodiversity and upsetting the entire basin ecosystem.
Image: Black Water Killing Fish

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The lack of oxygen in the rivers caused the death of hundreds of thousands of fish. Framers attempted to save fish populations by pumping oxygen back into the water but could only save so many fish. The death of the fish, a vital species in the ecosystem, caused a chain reaction upsetting the ecosystem and effecting biodiversity.

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Black water, while detrimental to fish, isn't all bad. Some species that live in the watershed breed after a flood, some scientists call this a 'boom and burst cycle'. Many birds breed in flooding periods because of the excess of nutrients.
Image: Australian Pelican

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The black water had little effect on crops. The soil helped to filter out the excess nutrients and plants already require carbon to photosynthesize. The water had to be tested and treated for additional toxins, but overall agriculture production was sustained in this event.
Image: Row Crop Farming

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Ready player one is a fictional novel that is intended to predict our future. In the novel the world has overdrawn fossil fuels and run out. Society has entered a dead zone, cars no longer work, food is scarce, and their is a huge divide between rich and poor. People spend their days in virtual realities to escape from the degrading, polluted, and broken world.
Image: Ready Player One

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As much as we would like to believe something like this is impossible it is not. Humans use and abuse the earths resources and like in the book the earth will eventually reach a breaking point. We must protect our water, the source of life, from pollutants and ill use.
Image: Oil Well

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The Murray Darling Basin Authority manages the use and health of the watershed. They focus their efforts in six key areas, water for the environment, hydrological modelling, salinity, water in storages, water markets and trade, and water quality.
Image: Clean Water

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This is one of the things the Murray Darling Basin Authority does to sustain a healthy ecosystem. Australia has invested more than $5 billion in water saving and conservation infrastructure. In some cases they will extract water up stream to use for irrigation, this water will then reenter the system down stream, where it would have ended up already.

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Problems with Water for the Environment 

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Problems with Water for the Environment 

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This may be better for the environment then simply pumping out water from down stream but still has its negative effects on the environment. Different levels of nutrients enter the system from the fertilizer and pesticides on the crops and the water level that plants an animals rely on is reduced when water is extracted, this also effects the rivers flow.
Image: Water Testing

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The Murray Darling Basin Authority has already gone to great lengths to protect this vital water source. There is a very delicate balance between healthy rivers and ecosystems, and social responsibility to provide water. Water must be used by humans for hygiene, to drink, and grow food. But must also be used in a sustainable way that supports ecosystem health.

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Solution One - Keeping Fertilizer and Pesticides in Check

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Solution One - Keeping Fertilizer and Pesticides in Check

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Pesticides and fertilizer are a major contributor to water pollution. They are beneficial because they allow more crops to grow and produce better/ bigger fruit, with the same or less water. Fertilizers and pesticides should be monitored more closely. They should be tested in combination with each other, that is each chemical used in the basin should be recorded. Chemicals that are not toxic on their own should all be tested in combination with each other to see if they produce a toxin. Any new chemical should have to be tested against the rest before it is approved to be used in the basin.
Image: Spraying Pesticides

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Farmers should be allotted a certain amount of water based on each years annual rainfall. This will maintain water levels in seasons with less precipitation. Over drawing could leave the system in a state of no return, meaning it can never return to normal levels; killing much of the biodiversity in the process. In these cases farmers still need water for their crops and livestock. Predicting a dry year could mean advising farmers to plant crops that require less water or raising a smaller herd that season.
Image: Sheep Herd

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The Basin Plan - Whats Already Being Done 

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The Basin Plan - Whats Already Being Done 

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Groundwater, adapting to climate changes and variability, water recovery, limiting water diversion, and amending Basin Plan implementations over time; are all already being done. Australia knows the importance of Murray Darling and has put strict restrictions on water use and alters these based on the climate each season.

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Australia's government knows the value and importance of the Murray Darlings Health. They already have systems in place for maintaining a healthy ecosystem and a sustainable water source shared between wildlife and the developing society. The system would be happier and healthier if humans did not draw from its water source or use its nutrient dense soil for farming. But people need to eat and drink to live. With growing world populations agriculture is vital. A balance between man and nature is the only way we can all coexist on this planet. Environmental health and sustainability is something overlooked by billions of people. Its time humans take responsibility for how we are treating the earth and make changes before it is too late.
Image: Sunset Murray Darling Basin

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Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Editor unknown. Crown Publishers. Book cover. 2014 Crown Publishers.

“Murray–Darling Basin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 July 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray%E2%80%93Darling_basin.

“Murray Darling Basin.” Australia's Federation Started in Corowa, NSW in 1893, www.murrayriver.com.au/about-the-murray/murray-darling-basin/.

“Native Animals in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin.” Natural Resources, www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/samurraydarlingbasin/plants-animals/native-plants-and-animals/native-animals.

“Plants- Murray Darling Basin .” Australian Government - Murray-Darling Basin Authority, 24 Nov. 2015, www.mdba.gov.au/discover-basin/environment/plants.

Whitworth, Kerry L., et al. “Drought, Floods and Water Quality: Drivers of a Severe Hypoxic Blackwater Event in a Major River System (the Southern Murray–Darling Basin, Australia).” Journal of Hydrology, vol. 450-451, 11 July 2012, pp. 190–198., doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.04.057.

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