How low can you go?
Water managers have to grapple with questions like: What would be the effect on residual flow in a river if a particular consent were granted? How would that effect change if we altered the consent conditions? What water restrictions would have to be imposed, and for how long?
NIWA’s Low Flow Analysis Tool (LowFAT) software lets users test the potential results of different flow management policies or consent conditions. LowFAT reads a time series of river flow data and then produces a variety of statistics on the effects of the chosen scenario. This enables users to see what the residual flow in the river would be, and what restrictions might have to be imposed on water users as a consequence.
LowFAT also allows water managers to investigate the effect of the duration and frequency of water restrictions as a result of altering minimum flows and/or total allocations.