Globally, many river systems are under stress due to overconsumption of water. Governments have responded with programmes to deliver environmental water to improve environmental outcomes. Although such programmes are essential, they may not be sufficient to achieve all desired environmental outcomes. The benefits of environmental water allocation may be improved using ‘complementary measures’, which are non-flow-based actions, such as infrastructure works, vegetation management and pest control. The value of complementary measures is recognised globally, but their ecological benefits are rarely well understood, either because there is limited experience with their application, or the importance of context- and location-specific factors make it difficult to generalise benefits. In this study, we developed an approach to evaluate complementary measures at different levels of detail as a mechanism to aid decision-making. For systems that require a rapid, high-level evaluation, we propose a score-based multi-criteria benefit assessment module. If more ecological detail is necessary, we outline a method based on conceptual models, expert elicitation and probability assessment. These results are used to populate a cumulative benefit assessment tool. The tool evaluates the benefits of proposed measures in the wider context by including variables such as flow, dependence on ongoing maintenance and additional ecological values. We illustrate our approach through application to the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. As many water recovery programmes mature into their evaluation phases, there is an increasing need to evaluate the ecological benefits of including complementary measures in the toolkit available to policy makers.

中文翻译：

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评估管理行动的生态效益，以补充河流系统中的环境流量

在全球范围内，由于过度消耗水资源，许多河流系统都面临压力。政府已通过提供环境水的计划做出回应，以改善环境结果。尽管此类计划必不可少，但它们可能不足以实现所有预期的环境成果。使用“补充措施”可以改善环境水分配的好处，这些措施是非基于流量的行动，例如基础设施工程、植被管理和虫害防治。补充措施的价值在全球范围内得到认可，但它们的生态效益很少被很好地理解，要么是因为它们的应用经验有限，要么是特定于环境和地点的因素的重要性使得难以推广效益。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种方法来评估不同详细程度的补充措施，作为辅助决策的机制。对于需要快速、高水平评估的系统，我们提出了基于分数的多标准效益评估模块。如果需要更多生态细节，我们会概述一种基于概念模型、专家启发和概率评估的方法。这些结果用于填充累积收益评估工具。该工具通过包括流量、对持续维护的依赖和额外的生态价值等变量，在更广泛的背景下评估拟议措施的好处。我们通过应用到澳大利亚墨累-达令盆地来说明我们的方法。随着许多水回收计划进入评估阶段，