SA universities will support a new four-year $8 million water research hub for the Ramsar-listed Coorong and Lower Lakes wetlands, and Murray Mouth region.

Federal Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek last week announced the funding for South Australia’s Goyder Institute for Water Research to work with First Nations, local communities, industries, scientists and agencies to investigate the impacts of climate change on the health of the important SA waterways.

Goyder is a partnership between the SA Department of Environment and Water, CSIRO, Flinders University, University of Adelaide and UniSA, and has conducted research at the Coorong and other sites for many years.

“Rivers die from the mouth up. Restoring the Murray Mouth, Lower Lakes and Coorong is a critical investment in the health of the whole system,” Ms Plibersek said.

“Healthy rivers mean healthy river town economies. The Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth are not just important ecologically – they’re a tourism drawcard, and support towns, jobs and agriculture.”

Flinders University’s Okke Batelaan, Strategic Professor of Hydrogeology, says the new hub in Goolwa follows the launch of the One Basin CRC  this year, which will lead to regional research centres at Loxton in SA’s Riverland, and at Mildura in Victoria, Griffith in NSW and Goondiwindi in Queensland.

Professor Batelaan says the University’s partnership with the Goyder Institute will create “great opportunities for a broad range of Flinders researchers, including the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, for place-based research at the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth”.