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The Local Environmental Mananagement Support System (LEMSS) builds upon concepts developed in previous studies, but also introduces several new concepts. The LEMSS provides a more detailed spatial representation of catchments than the EMSS developed for the greater South East Queensland region (Vertessy et al., 2001). The typical elementary spatial unit handled by the EMSS was about 100 km, but was reduced to about 3 km in a recent custom application of the software to the Pine Rivers catchment. The LEMSS, on the other hand, is composed of much smaller spatial elements, varying in size between a few 25 x 25 m cells and a hundred or so of these. This enables discrimination of catchment activities proximal to water courses which may threaten water quality and subsequently the overall ecological health of the waterways.
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The LEMSS is intended to be used both as a predictive tool, and as a framework for communicating key aspects of catchment and stream management in the Pine Rivers region. The presently available data in the Pine Rivers region does not justify the development of a complex hydrology and pollutant transport model. Hence, the intention of this project was to build a modelling system that could be parameterised using locally available data. To adequately test the accuracy of the model predictions, it will be necessary to gather additional water quality and stream health data for the region. Such data collection programs are already underway in the area. Although it will be some time until the LEMSS can be validated properly, it should be regarded now as a useful ‘thinking tool’ for planning purposes. In this regard, the LEMSS has considerable value as a device to engage catchment stakeholders when discussing management strategies to improve catchment water quality and the ecologic health of waterways. In addition, the LEMSS should be used to design future data collection strategies in the region.
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Catchment stakeholders specified the following design requirements for the LEMSS:
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simulate entrainment and deposition of nutrients and sediment in response to water flow characteristics |
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simulate the transport of nutrients both in soluble forms, entrained solid forms, and sediment-sorbed forms (although perhaps collectively) |
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simulate surface flow in response to changes in soil moisture, and landuse dependent land surface characteristics |
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represent riparian buffers at scales as small as 30 m |
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responsivity to spatially explicit descriptions of landuse, landuse change, and land management policy |
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| Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program |
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