$66m move combines state river models for better basin transparency

Water Minister Keith Pitt said Australia's river models were already world leading, but they were currently used independently of each other and required significant manual intervention to provide a whole-of-Basin view.

"This upgrade will improve how the water models talk to each other, which will allow for more sophisticated and accurate future scenario planning across the Basin," Mr Pitt said.

"Once upgraded, we will have improved capability to explore a range of future scenarios, for example, droughts, high rainfall events and bushfires, and what this will mean for inflows and river connectivity.

"For environmental water holders, the modelling upgrade will help inform their longer-term strategies to get the best outcomes for floodplain and wetland health, and therefore bird and fish populations."

Part of the investment will include developing a public-facing portal, giving water users access to better information.

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National Recovery and Resilience Minister Bridget McKenzie said the investment would give people visibility of the models and the decisions they inform.

"For the broader community, having more accurate and transparent models will help generate confidence that water users are adhering to the rules and are only taking the water they're entitled to," Senator McKenzie said.

"Greater transparency around the modelling inputs will give context to the potential risks to water availability under different climatic conditions and help policy makers develop plans to mitigate these risks."

All the existing MDBA and state government river models are expected to be integrated by July 2024 and ongoing maintenance to the updated technology will begin from then.