Murray Darling Basin by https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling en-us 2018-07-20 21:12:01 UTC 2026-02-03 15:21:26 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Clouds.png Australia's Murray Darling Basin lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270724889 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 ]]> 2018-07-20 21:17:55 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270724889 Transboundary Watershed Final Project lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270725031 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.  ]]> 2018-07-20 21:24:36 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270725031 Life in the Basin lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270725464 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.]]> 2018-07-20 21:39:29 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270725464 Native Animals & Insects lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726090 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]]> 2018-07-20 22:05:39 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726090 Native Plant Species lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726139 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]]> 2018-07-20 22:06:55 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726139 Benefits of the Basin lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726156
  • 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. 
    • ]]>     2018-07-20 22:07:24 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726156     Specifics & Parameters lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726185
  • 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  
    ]]>     2018-07-20 22:08:53 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726185     Tragedy at Murray Darling lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726207 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. ]]> 2018-07-20 22:10:13 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726207 Black Water Havoc lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726221 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]]>     2018-07-20 22:10:32 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726221     Impact on Fish & Wildlife lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726239 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.]]> 2018-07-20 22:11:18 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726239 Regulations & Management lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726659 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]]>     2018-07-20 22:24:23 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270726659     Preventing Future Destabilization lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727068 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.]]> 2018-07-20 22:38:08 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727068 Ready Player One lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727199 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]]>     2018-07-20 22:42:18 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727199     Fiction versus Non-Fiction lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727209 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]]>     2018-07-20 22:42:36 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727209     References lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727234 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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    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/fc44d2db7cf4952385981a75ac783dd5?width=1024]]>     2018-07-20 22:43:52 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727234     Solution One - Keeping Fertilizer and Pesticides in Check lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727312 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]]>     2018-07-20 22:46:22 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727312     Solution Two - Water Limits lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727315 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]]>     2018-07-20 22:46:30 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727315     Sustainable Living lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727320 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 ]]>     2018-07-20 22:46:43 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270727320     Human Presence lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270807074
  • 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
    ]]>     2018-07-22 22:57:41 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270807074     Supporting Livestock & Row Crops lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270808554 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 ]]>     2018-07-22 23:25:14 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270808554     Murray Darlings Effect on the World lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270810488 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 ]]>     2018-07-22 23:47:45 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270810488     Ecosystem Change lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270816416 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]]>     2018-07-23 00:57:52 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270816416     Impact on Agriculture Production lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270824753 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]]>     2018-07-23 02:18:48 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270824753     Water for the Environment lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270891503 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.  ]]> 2018-07-23 19:19:33 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270891503 Problems with Water for the Environment lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270892596 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]]>     2018-07-23 19:33:31 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270892596     Water Security lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270892905
  • 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
    ]]>     2018-07-23 19:39:52 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270892905     The Basin Plan - Whats Already Being Done lindsey_schnelle https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270895798 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.  ]]> 2018-07-23 20:35:34 UTC https://padlet.com/lindsey_schnelle/murray_darling/wish/270895798