Application of AEAM (Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management) to Water Quality in the Latrobe River Catchment

Adaptive environmental assessment and management (AEAM) is a process for the development and exploration of management options for complex systems and is particularly applicable to environmental management issues. It has been applied throughout the world since the 1970s to problems ranging from management of the Florida Everglades to assessing the ecological impacts of hydro-electric schemes. The process is centred around a series of workshops wherein representatives from a wide range of technical and non-technical groups, including discipline specialist, planners, decision makers and other stake holders, define the scope and output requirements for a computer simulation model of the system to be managed. Sub-groups provide information required to represent each such as hydrology, water quality and ecological impacts as well as the linkages between these different areas. The involvement of the whole group in model development ensures a product that is consistent with use requirement and incorporates best-available knowledge of the system at an agreed temporal and spatial scale. This paper reports on an application of the methodology to the development of water-quality management plans for the Latrobe River in Victoria, Australia. This is one of the few such applications of AEAM undertaken in Australia. The fundamental process is briefly presented and the specific methodology used in this application is discussed, with special reference to the workshop outcomes, development of the computer and the benefits of the process to resource managers. The computer simulation is presented and its uses and limitations are discussed. While the computer model is the tangible outcome of the process, the modelling workshops are shown to be of primary importance. They are a highly-efficient medium for the accumulation of information about the system and require participants to focus clearly on problems and achievable solutions from the outset.