NZWaM-Hydro is scalable, and the hydrological relationships in the model are transferable between locations.
The modelling framework could be used for:
National Policy Development
- To derive hydrological indicators and signatures (e.g soil moisture, groundwater depth, snow depth)
- Consistent time series of hydrological fluxes for ungauged catchments with water quality trend correction and spatial and temporal uncertainties
- State of the Environment reporting for ungauged catchments
- Derivation of water allocation rules
- National and regional water accounting
- Regional scale calibration available for national policy development using one modelling framework
Regional Policy Development
- Implementation of national policy and regional policy development based on regional model calibrations and fine tuning
- Derivation of dynamic hydrological fluxes indicators (e.g soil moisture, groundwater depth, snow resource) across region
- Tuned to support local water resource planning and associated uncertainties
- Sub-regional refinement of water allocation rules
- Sub-regional fine-tuning to produce consistent hydrological flux timeseries
- Sub-regional State of the Environment report (integrated to national scale reporting that can be fine-tune based on local knowledge)
- Sub-regional scale calibration available for implementation in regional and national scale models supporting policy development using one modelling framework
Water allocation and flow setting (with CHES and/or similar tools)
- Catchment and regional-scale water allocation rule scenarios
- Coupling hydro-model with contaminant loading to test implementation of environmental limits (e.g. social hydrology)
- Impact assessment of water allocation on "integrated" water supply (surface water and groundwater)
Hydrological Investigation
- Provision of dynamic boundary conditions for local-scale high resolution models
- Derivation/estimation of hydrological flux return periods across New Zealand
Large-scale flow, flood and drought forecasting
- Climate change impact assessment on water resources and hydrological risks
- Regional and catchment flow forecasting through coupling with Numerical Weather Prediction models
- Medium range forecasting of hydrological fluxes and flows
- Seasonal range forecasting
Water quality investigation
- Provision of flow corrections to assess water quality trends
- Provision of flow and hydrological fluxes time series for dynamic contaminant load estimation
Designing water trading schemes
- Estimation of cross region/catchment trading-schemes and their impacts on water resources and associated environmental limits (Manuherika/Taieri in Otago)