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Macquarie River
The Macquarie river catchment is located in the eastern portion of the Murray-Darling Basin. Climate change predictions for the region have indicated that water availability in the catchment will range between a 10% increase to a 30% decrease (Jones and Page 2002). However, it was found that the most likely outcome would range between a 0% to 15% decrease in water flow, with a 90% probability of a 15% decrease in water availability (Jones and Page 2002). Furthermore, this expected decrease in water availability is likely to result in two critical thresholds being reached, whereby irrigation supply in the catchment will represent less than 50% of assigned water rights for 5 consecutive years, and for 10 consecutive years, wetlands in the region will receive inadequate water levels needed for bird breeding events (Jones and Page 2002).
The Macquarie river catchment is the primary contributor to the Burrendong Dam. Under expected climate change scenarios, runoff into the Burrendong Dam may be reduced by between 12 to 32% respectively (Hassall and Associates 1998).
Further analysis of the impacts of climate change in the Macquarie catchment revealed that water reductions will become more widespread as a consequence, threatening water supply in south-eastern and south-western Australia (Jones and Pittock 2002).
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