First hydrometric monitoring guidelines available
The ten guidelines aim to strengthen the integrity of data used in water resources assessments and planning.
The guidelines support the Bureau’s national water data archive, the Australian Water Resources Information System (AWRIS). Water data and related information are contributed into AWRIS by more than 200 water monitoring organisations in Australia.
Serving as a common national language, the guidelines have been developed, agreed and endorsed by industry to describe recommended practice in water resource data collection and management. They assist to communicate an industry approach with end users of the data and ensure the data being collected and ingested into AWRIS is consistent and comparable between various collecting organisations.
In 2010 the Bureau established the Water Information Standards Business Forum as a nationally representative group to coordinate and foster the development and endorsement of water information guidelines and standards. The Forum endorsed the new guidelines following two years of work by technical experts to write, review and submit the guidelines. Importantly, the Australian Hydrographers Association has been closely involved as the peak industry body, contributing assistance and input throughout.