A landmark study by a team at the University of New South Wales has mapped more than 2,000 km of levee banks, channels and storages on the floodplains of the Macquarie Marshes, an internationally significant wetland listed under the Ramsar Convention.

The study identified 338 km of levees, 1,648 km of channels, 54 off-river storages and 664 farm dams on the floodplain of about 4,300 square kilometres.

Professor Richard Kingsford, an author of the new report, says: "This is the first time such an extensive study has been done for any river in the Murray-Darling Basin and the extent of development is surprising as it is making a significant impact on the river and its ecology."

View original article: www.connectedwaters.unsw.edu.au