8.Hydrology

NRC operates a hydrometric network consisting of rainfall, river, groundwater, tidal and lake water level monitoring stations. This network comprises 208 active stations, of which 81 are automated while the rest are manually read. 80 of these automated stations are on a radio/cellphone telemetry network. All data gathered from these stations is stored in a hydrological database.

In 2007-08, rainfall records showed a record wet July, with two severe storm events; a wet September, December, February and April; dry conditions in August, October and January and variable conditions for the remainder of the year. River flows were generally above average in July, August, December, February and May, but below average from September through to November and January. A total of 245 flow measurements were taken across the region, of which 45 were taken during flood conditions.