Transcript for The Science of Water Modelling video

[Speaker] What is water modelling and why is it so important? What exactly does it mean?

Well, imagine you're a traveller tasked with exploring and mapping uncharted territory. You're standing on a hill, looking out over the horizon. The sun is high in the sky and the day is hot. Your water bottle is low. In the distance, you spot a body of water, but the path isn't clear through the hills and tree cover. How do you get from where you are to the water that you need without a map to guide you? You observe your surroundings to figure out which routes are dead ends and which might take you forward. You could use a compass by day and read the stars by night.

As you continue, you pay attention to landmarks and get clues from those you meet along the way. By gathering and piecing together your knowledge of the landscape, you can make informed decisions to find the best route towards water.

Water modelling is a lot like our traveler's journey. Victoria gathers millions upon millions of data points on our waterways and catchments each year, to give us information on current and past conditions, so we can make educated assumptions about the future. When we combine this data with our broader understanding of changes to the environment, we can start to ask questions. How will hot and dry conditions for years on end impact the amount of water we have available? Will the health of our waterways improve if we increase the amount of water we release into the environment? How will we share this finite resource equitably?

Water modelling allows us to undertake vital work, like the Long-term Water Resource Assessment and the Sustainable Water Strategies, which help us to plan and manage water both now and for the future. Water modellers use the data to ask a broad range of questions about potential outcomes, giving policymakers the tools they need to prepare contingencies and ensure that Victoria will have access to the water we need.

As we gather more data, improve our modelling tools, and continue to compare models to actual events, our models become more precise and more useful. Just like our traveller who maps out their journey. Over time, as they make the journey again and again, gathering more information about the landscape, the map gets better and they understand more about the surrounding world.

Water modelling is a vital tool that helps us to understand Victoria's water and prepare for the future. To find out more, visit www.water.vic.gov.au.