Measuring Environmental Condition of Rivers
Urban and rural river health - Index of River Condition
Melbourne Water's Index of River Condition (IRC) program is a tool designed to provide an overall integrated measure of the environmental condition of rivers. The Index of River Condition is based on the Index of Stream Condition, developed by Department of Sustainability and Environment for rural rivers and creeks.
The Index of Stream Condition has been modified to account for the urban rivers and creeks in Melbourne Water's operating area. It includes data for all of the rivers and creeks that we manage.
It combines information on the:
- natural flow regime
- water quality
- condition of the channel
- condition of riparian (streamside) vegetation
- waterbug communities living in the river.
Related information:
- Index of stream condition (rural) - Our Water, Our Future
- Online database Index of stream condition (rural)
- Index of River condition (urban and rural)
How to read the Index of River Condition
The index is broken into 5 parts. It provides a summary of the extent of change from natural or ideal conditions for each of the parts:
| Index Part | Description |
|---|---|
| physical form | river bank and bed condition, presence of and access to physical habitat, artificial barriers |
| streamside zone | quality and quantity of streamside vegetation |
| hydrology | flow volume and seasonality of flow |
| water quality | key water quality indicators compared against Victorian Government environment protection policy water quality objectives |
| aquatic life | diversity of macro invertebrates |
Each part is scored out of a maximum of 10, so that the overall score for the index will vary between a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 50.
River condition is then allocated to one of five classifications:
- --------very poor
- --------poor
- --------moderate
- --------good
- --------excellent
More information
View the current Index of River Condition data for the Port Phillip and Westernport region.
Water quality data for Victorian rivers and creeks outside the Port Phillip and Westernport region can be accessed at the Water Resources Victorian Data Warehouse.
Links
Fact Sheets
Maps
- Index of River Condition - Aquatic Life (225kb GIF)
- Index of River Condition - Hydrology (234kb GIF)
- Index of River Condition - Physical Form (223kb GIF)
- Index of River Condition - Stream Side Zone (219kb GIF)
- Index of River Condition - Water Quality (221kb GIF)
