This week’s spotlight was on World Water Week, the leading international water conference organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), which brings together researchers, policymakers, communities, and industry to address critical global water challenges. This year’s theme, Water for Climate Action, emphasises water’s key role in both climate mitigation and adaptation/resilience.
In South Australia, the impacts of climate change on water systems are complex and intensified by a drier climate. Warmer temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are contributing to more extreme events, including floods, droughts, and bushfires, while ecosystem health and water security face increasing pressures, as highlighted by the recent algal bloom crisis. Understanding these dynamics is particularly important for regional communities, ensuring that planning, adaptation, and resource management are guided by robust, evidence-based information. Ongoing research and monitoring are needed to provide the data and modelling tools required to accurately predict climate impacts on water resources and support informed decision-making.
The Goyder Institute for Water Research, together with its partners and research affiliates is tackling these challenges through a range of projects.
Explore our projects below:
• The Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Research Centre is building community and First Nations driven knowledge to guide long-term water and ecosystem management.
• Analysis of changes in high-intensity rainfall events in South Australia is informing water infrastructure planning under future extremes.
• Adaptation of the South East Drainage System to a Changing Climate project is developing modelling and tools to help management agencies prepare for shifting conditions.
• Murray-Darling Basin 2022-23 flood environmental response in the Coorong project to provide valuable insights into the health and functioning of the Coorong ecosystem, enabling effective management and conservation strategies.
• Working together for better drinking water in the bush forum facilitated collaborative discussions to identify high-level solutions to challenges in providing clean, safe, and secure drinking water, and to identify enabling actions and next steps.
• Partnering with the One Basin CRC to link regional research with national water management programs, fostering knowledge exchange across scales and communities.
Through its collaborative approach, the Goyder Institute works with First Nations peoples, local communities, industry, NGOs, and regional management agencies to ensure cultural knowledge, lived experience, and community priorities are embedded in our projects. By incorporating this knowledge into our research, we take a more holistic approach that strengthens resilience, supports communities to adapt to climate change at a regional scale and guides practical water and ecosystem management strategies.
