fw.4.3 Integrated drainage basin management - The Murray-Darling Basin
Content
- Geographic inquiry and concept(s)
- Future possibilities for management intervention in drainage basins
- Geographic knowledge and understanding
- The growing importance of integrated drainage basin management (IDBM) plans, and the costs and benefits they bring
- Case study or detailed examples
- Case study of one recent IDBM plan
- Aims of this lesson
- To be able to discuss the growing importance of integrated drainage basin management plans
- To be able to discuss the costs and benefits of integrated drainage basin management plans
- To be able to use the Murray-Darling Plan as a case study of a recent IDBM plan
Base knowledge and understanding
News article
Governments failed to deliver $160m of river improvements including for now-parched NSW wetlands, report finds
NSW and Queensland governments ‘severely underdelivered’ on promised infrastructure to improve water flows, independent review finds
The Guardian · 23 April 2026
Key terms
- Integrated drainage basin management
- An integrated water resources perspective ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources.
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Review
- For one named drainage basin, explain two consequences of contemporary dam building. [4]
- Examine how increased dam building can create both opportunities and challenges for communities within a drainage basin. [10]