Draft Gladstone Regional Council Network Investment Plan

Prepared by the Bureau of Meteorology For the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, September 2016

Gladstone Regional Council Network Investment Plan

Published by the Bureau of Meteorology

This document, the Gladstone Regional Council Network Investment Plan 2016, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence, unless otherwise indicated. Please give attribution to: © State of Queensland (Queensland Reconstruction Authority) 2016.

We also request that you observe and retain any notices that may accompany this material as part of the attribution. Notice Identifying Other Material and/or Rights in this Publication:

The author has taken steps to both identify third-part material and secure permission for it reproduction and reuse. However, please note that where third-party materials are not licensed under a Creative Commons License, or similar terms of use, you should obtain permission from the rights holder to reuse their material beyond the ways you are permitted to use them under the Copyright Act 1968. Further Information:

For further information about the copyright in this document, please contact: Queensland Reconstruction Authority 400 George Street Brisbane, QLD 0400 Email: info@qldra.org.au Phone: 1800 110 841 DISCLAIMER

The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License contains a Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability. In addition: This document was produced by the Bureau of Meteorology for the State of Queensland. Reuse of this document or its associated information by anyone for any other purpose could result in error and/or loss. You should obtain professional advice before making decisions based upon the contents of this document.

Gladstone Regional Council Network Investment Plan

i

Revision history

Date Version Description Author

18/3/2016 1.0 Initial draft template CE MacGeorge

4/5/2016 1.1 Initial draft J Carey

1/8/2016 2.0 Revised draft following an initial review CE MacGeorge

15/9/2016 3.0 Draft revision (template 3) CE MacGeorge

Release history

Date Version Status Audience Approval

26/8/2016 2.0 Draft release for review QRA, GRC Jeff Perkins

15/9/2016 3.0 Draft release for review QRA, GRC Jeff Perkins

Document management register

Document File reference

Gladstone Regional Council investment report – v2.0

S:\Queensland\Hydrology\pub\PROJECTS\Business Development\DNRM LGA review\Council Investment Reports\Gladstone RC

Gladstone Regional Council investment report – Sep2016 – v3.0

S:\Queensland\Hydrology\pub\PROJECTS\Business Development\DNRM LGA review\Council Investment Reports\Gladstone RC

Review Status

Reviewer Date Reviewed Version Reviewed

B. Gunn, J. Perkins, S. Sooriyakumaran May 2016 1.0

CE MacGeorge 26/8/2016 2.0

CE MacGeorge 15/9/2016 3.0

ii

Release Signatories

Approval Name Signature Date

Gladstone Regional Council Network Investment Plan

iii

Contact details

Regional Hydrology Manager

Queensland Regional Office

Bureau of Meteorology

GPO Box 413 BRISBANE QLD 4001

Phone: 07 3239 8768

Email: flood.qld@bom.gov.au

iv

Table of Contents

1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Report structure ................................................................................................. 2

2 Summary of recommendations ...................................................................................... 4

3 KBR proposed plan ........................................................................................................ 5

3.1 Recommended proposal .................................................................................... 5 3.2 Feedback and intelligence gathered from Gladstone Regional Council .............. 6

4 Bureau review of proposal ............................................................................................. 7

4.1 Existing networks and warning services ............................................................. 7 4.2 Service benefits of proposal ............................................................................... 9 4.3 Revised proposal ............................................................................................... 9

5 Revised investment plan .............................................................................................. 11

5.1 Stakeholders .................................................................................................... 11 5.2 Proposed investment ....................................................................................... 11 5.2.1 Capital Costs .................................................................................................... 11 5.2.2 Construction costs ............................................................................................ 12 5.2.3 Out-of-scope costs ........................................................................................... 12 5.3 Benefit-cost ...................................................................................................... 12

Attachment 1 – KBR proposed plan ..................................................................................... 14

Attachment 2 – Bureau flood warning network for Calliope, Boyne, Baffle & Kolan basins ... 15

Attachment 3 – Recommended network map at basin level ................................................. 16

Attachment 4 – Recommended network map at LGA level ................................................... 17

Attachment 5 – Considerations for council............................................................................ 18

Attachment 6 – Bureau services ........................................................................................... 19

Gladstone Regional Council Network Investment Plan

v

List of Tables

Table 1: Very High and High priority settlements within the Gladstone Regional LGA (as proposed in Appendix L of the KBR report). ............................................................ 5

Table 2: Recommended flood gauge infrastructure investment for the Boyne River. .... 5

Table 3: Revised proposed infrastructure investment for Gladstone LGA ..................... 9

Table 4: Investment plan for the Gladstone Shire LGA. ................................................ 11

Table 5: Questions for council to consider in assessing the investment recommendations. ........................................................................................................ 18

Table 6: Schedule of Bureau of Meteorology flood forecasting and warning services ... 20

Table 7: Requirements in the defining of location type .................................................. 22

List of Figures

Figure 1: Process being followed in Stage 1 to implement the outcomes of the KBR report. ........................................................................................................................... 2

Figure 2: Composition of the 55 assets comprising the flood warning network in the Gladstone LGA by (a) proportion of network ownership, (b) the reporting technology used within the network, (c) the distribution of gauge assets by equipment type, (d) the function of the gauge assets and (e) the level of maintenance responsibility for the network. ........................................................................................................................ 8

1

1.1 Background

The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) is the lead agency with policy oversight of the Queensland rainfall and river gauge network used for providing flood warning data in the support of the Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau) riverine flood warning service. This density, suitability and reliability of the gauge network vary considerable across Queensland and between catchments. There are many towns in Queensland that do not receive a specific BoM flood warning service either because there is little flood risk or because the network is not sufficient to provide a service. Furthermore, while local governments are responsible for warning of and responding to flash floods, many do not have the networks, data or capacity to do this. In December 2014, DNRM commissioned via limited-life funds Kellogg Brown & Root Pty Ltd (KBR) to review and evaluate the performance of the state's rainfall and river gauge network, including data fitness, spatial configuration, standard of equipment and operational arrangements with the outcome to identify and prioritise potential areas for improvement. KBR assessed settlements based on rain and river gauge reliability, proximity, diversity and catchment coverage, and for flood hazard, to assign network upgrade priorities for settlements. The report listed ten priority actions for network improvements, with the highest priority action to install 43 rain gauges, 12 rain and river level gauges, and 3 river level only gauges in catchments associated with very high priority settlements for an estimated cost of $1.5 million. Following this review, DNRM has developed a two stage Implementation Plan, with Stage 1 addressing the more immediate actions arising from the review, focussing on the design of upgraded flood warning networks for identified very high and high priority settlements, particularly at the whole-of-government level where responsibilities exist across multiple agencies. The key elements of Stage 1 involve;

Assess and confirm with relevant local governments the settlements that are rated as very high and high priority for improved gauging infrastructure and facilitate the development of an investment strategy,

Validate whether the additional 92 proposed settlements need a flood warning service, within the context of the 123 settlements currently receiving a service,

Working with BoM, agencies and local governments to identify regional opportunities to improve flash flood warning arrangements,

Investigate options for local governments to develop regional arrangements to install, operate and maintain flood-related gauging infrastructure, and

Identify supplementary (cost recovered) BoM services to support local governments in responding to flood situations.

The process being followed by DNRM for Stage 1 of the Implementation Plan is shown in Figure 1 below. The BoM has been engaged to provide the hydrological and flood

1 Introduction

2

warning expertise in the review and redesign of flood warning networks, including recommendations for a forecast service, and installation of new rainfall or river infrastructure. Governance of the implementation plan is through the cross-agency Flood Warning Infrastructure Reference Group (FWIRG) having membership of;

DNRM (project oversight, coordination and funding)

BoM (flood warning specialists and service provider)

QRA (project management and liaison with councils)

DILGP (local government governance and funding arrangements)

QFES/QPS (local and catchment flood intelligence)

LGAQ (assisting with local governments liaison)

DISTI (hydrological support)

Figure 1: Process being followed in Stage 1 to implement the outcomes of the KBR

report.

1.2 Report structure

This report addresses the first three key elements of Stage 1 implementation plan, with the structure and content of this report closely following the process of the plan. Following this introduction (Section 1) and summary of recommendations (Section 2), Section 0 provides the detailed assessment of the KBR proposal for both riverine and flash flooding within the Gladstone Regional LGA.

KBR Report

FWIRG assessment of KBR report and proposals

LGA validation meeting

Confirmation with LGAs of proposed investment requirements

Investment Plan

BoM review of KBR proposals against LGA response and existing infrastructure and warning services.

Implementation Approval

Consideration of Investment Plan by LGA and final sign-off by QFRCC

3

Section 3 also includes feedback and intelligence received from Gladstone Regional Council (GRC) during a telephone conference on 9 March. The discussions with GRC were intended to assist in confirming and validating the recommendations from the KBR review. Section 4 assesses the investment strategy by comparing the KBR recommendations against the existing flood warning service within the LGA. In considering the aforementioned GRC comments, a revised investment plan is proposed, with Section 5 providing the cost assessment, including a breakdown by the key stakeholders to the flood warning network. A number of attachments support the above discussion. Attachment 1 is the map of the initial KBR proposal; Attachment 2, the current flood warning network; Attachment 3, the proposed investments at the LGA level, and at the basin level (Attachment 4). Attachment 5 provides a series of questions council need to consider in assessing the recommendations of this report and in prioritising investments. Attachment 6 provides a commentary of the Bureau's basic and supplementary services for riverine and flash flooding services in the support of state and local government responding to flood situations.

4

DNRM has developed a two stage implementation plan to address the Very High and High priority recommendations from the KBR performance review of the state's flood warning gauge network that supports the Bureau of Meteorology flood warning service. Stage 1 of the implementation plan engaged the Bureau of Meteorology to assist in reviewing KBR's work, and prepare for the 32 local councils across the 92 settlements in scope a network implementation strategy and investment plan to address the concerns for flash and riverine flooding. For the Gladstone Regional Council, no settlements were identified as having a Very High or High priority need for flood warning gauge investments, however Benaraby, Boyne Island and Tannum Sands were identified as moderate priorities. In total, 3 rainfall and river level assets were proposed by KBR across the upper Boyne River catchment. Officers from QRA and the Bureau spoke with officers from Gladstone Regional Council on 20 April 2016. Much of the flood concerns of council principally involve isolation of settlements with loss of major arteries through the shire, and having visibility on the areas cut by flooding. Flash flooding is a concern for several locations most notably Gladstone itself. The flood warning network has recently been modernised to now include automatic ALERT technology across the council area which are owned by council but currently maintained in partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology. There is also good data availability from partner organisations including DNRM and the Gladstone Area Water Board (Awoonga Dam). This review recommends an investment plan of up to $180,000 for 3 new rainfall and river level gauges including a DNRM station upgrade and two new station installs in the upper Boyne catchment and where the Bruce Highway crosses the Calliope River.

2 Summary of recommendations

5

This section outlines the flood warning gauge infrastructure investment proposed by KBR based on a desk-top risk assessment analysis using information gathered from user surveys, data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology and interviews with some local governments. The report's recommendation highlights some 190 settlements as having either a flash flood or riverine investment priority. In this section, KBR's recommendations are validated against council's understanding of its flood risk, and compared to the existing flood warning infrastructure the Bureau uses in the provision of its flood warning service.

3.1 Recommended proposal

KBR did not recommend that there were any settlements within the Gladstone

Regional LGA as having either a Very High or High priority for flood warning gauge

investment. They did identify Benaraby, Boyne Island and Tannum Sands as moderate

priority.

Table 1: Very High and High priority settlements within the Gladstone Regional LGA (as

proposed in Appendix L of the KBR report).

Settlement Priority Flood Catchment Basin

No locations recommended by KBR as high or very high.

Appendix K of the KBR review recommends the following 3 new infrastructure assets

shown in Table 2. The basin maps outlined in Attachment 1 shows these investments

in the spatial context when compared to the existing rainfall and river height network

and other regional investment recommendations.

Table 2: Recommended flood gauge infrastructure investment for the Boyne River.

Priority Investment

No

Type Catchment Settlement LGA Area

Moderate 0154 Rn/Rv Boyne R Benaraby, Boyne

Island & Tannum

Sands

Gladstone

0155 Rn Boyne R Benaraby, Boyne

Island & Tannum

Sands

Gladstone

3 KBR proposed plan

6

0156 Rn Boyne R Benaraby, Boyne

Island & Tannum

Sands

Gladstone

3.2 Feedback and intelligence gathered from Gladstone Regional Council

Gladstone Regional Council (GRC) was of the opinion that the current flood warning network is largely sufficient for flood operations but identified two specific areas that were of concern from an isolation point of view – three townships in the Upper Boyne River catchment: Nagoorin, Ubobo and Builyan and the Bruce Highway Bridge over the Calliope River. In order to better understand and comment on the expected duration of road closures at the top of the Boyne River catchment an extra gauge upstream of Nagoorin would be very beneficial. KBR have proposed a station (RN/SWL 0154) downstream of the township of Builyan, however council staff feel that another station placed at the township of Builyan slightly upstream of the proposed location would also be beneficial. The other two stations (RN 0155 and RN 0156) proposed by KBR would provide extra information for inflows into Awoonga Dam from the western inflows (Diglum, Livings, Flutter and Booreeco Creeks). The council believe Gladstone Area Water Board to be satisfied with their network as it stands and do not believe they require extra information for their operations. Council currently works closely with the water board during flood operations, so it was decided that including these two stations going forward wouldn't be of huge benefit. GRC also commented on the lack of knowledge of river heights in the Calliope River catchment, specifically at the Bruce Highway crossing. Council believed that the introduction of three new ALERT stations would provide an optimum service. It was proposed to install an automatic rain/river station close to the Bureau's existing manual rain gauge at Calliope station, upgrade the DNRM station at downstream at Castlehope and install another new rain/river further downstream on the Bruce Highway Bridge. The introduction of these stations would be pivotal for not only informing road closure statements but also from an evacuation point of view. Council already operate 3 flood webcams (all currently located in the Baffle Creek catchment) and this facility could also be extended into other areas that may assist the local community plan their trips better. Council also commented on the fact that the record flood in January 2013 (Ex-TC Oswald) produced only relatively minor impacts at Boyne Island/Tannum Sands (13 properties inundated) and felt that they had a good understanding of flood risk within their catchment area.

7

4.1 Existing networks and warning services

The flood warning gauge network for the Calliope, Boyne and Baffle catchments is

shown at Attachment 2, with the network statistics provided in Figure 2.

The network within the Gladstone Regional LGA consists of 55 stations, which is quite

evenly spread between the Bureau, the council, the state government (QRail, DISITI,

MSQ and Qld DNRM) and the Gladstone Area Water Board. Of the 55 stations 25 are

rain gauges, 21 rain and river stations and 9 river only stations.

Essendean Bridge is the only forecast location within the LGA requiring only a

qualitative service, with a forecast target lead-time of 6 hours for river levels to exceed

the level of the bridge deck – 6.2 metres. Essendean Bridge has a relatively well

documented history as a result of the Bureau's manual staff gauges, however this

station was recently upgraded to include an automatic feed of data via the ALERT

technology.

There is a good coverage of stations throughout all catchments inside the LGA and

nearly all key locations are now part of the ALERT network, which allows the council to

receive near real time information on catchment conditions during flood operations.

Where ever new stations are installed some linkage into this network is imperative to

ensure that this near real time situational awareness is maintained.

Dependency on manual networks is minor in the Baffle and Boyne River catchments

due to the recent introduction of ALERT networks. The Calliope River catchment

however has only very recently had ALERT stations installed and only on the lower part

of the catchment. There is a DNRM telemetry station located at Castlehope which has

been identified as a possible upgrade location.

Upstream of Castlehope two daily read manual rain gauges are available at Hazelden

and Calliope Station. Looking at the past three significant rainfall events (Ex-TC Marcia,

Ex-TC Oswald and the Dec 2010 – Feb 2011) the Hazeldean manual rainfall station

has reported extensively during all three events whereas the Calliope Station rain

gauge has been missing throughout all of these events. During the teleconference

council didn't specifically identify the lack of rainfall as a risk and given the fact that

there is an available good manual observer no extra station is required above

Castlehope.

4 Bureau review of proposal

8

82%

14% 4%

D: Gauge function

Data

Information

Forecast

24%

18%

31%

27%

A: Network ownership

BoM

State

Council

Water

22%

78%

B: Reporting technology

Manual

Telemetry

46%

16%

38%

C: Gauge type

Rain

River

Rain/River

26%

11%

18%

27%

18%

E: Network maintenance

BoM

BoM/GRC

State

GAWB

GRC

Figure 2: Composition of the 55 assets

comprising the flood warning network in

the Gladstone LGA by (a) proportion of

network ownership, (b) the reporting

technology used within the network, (c)

the distribution of gauge assets by

equipment type, (d) the function of the

gauge assets and (e) the level of

maintenance responsibility for the

network.

9

4.2 Service benefits of proposal

Increasing the number and frequency of rainfall observations in a basin is both an

efficient and effective strategy to improve forecast warning lead times for flash and

riverine flooding and for the flood warning service in general. In this assessment

preference is given to rainfall investments, recognising river level investments assist in

quantifying forecast services or providing multifunctional benefits, for example, the

impact on regional infrastructure.

As noted by council, the three townships located in the upper Boyne River catchment

Nagoorin, Ubobo and Builyan would benefit from further investment in flood monitoring

equipment. It is therefore proposed to install a rain/river station in the upper part of the

Boyne catchment. KBR proposed the installation of RN/SWL 0154 between Builyan

and Ubobo, however this station would be better placed at the township of Builyan to

provide this locality with improved monitoring as well as lead time for the two

downstream townships of Nagoorin and Ubobo.

The Calliope catchment would also benefit from further investment to improve council's

ability to provide a road condition report as well as plan for the possible closure of the

major thoroughfare north. It is therefore proposed to install a new rain/river station at

Hazeldean, upgrade the existing Castlehope TM station owned and operated by DNRM

to an ALERT as well as the introduction of a rain/river station at the Calliope River

Bridge on the Bruce Highway. Three other new rainfall stations are proposed in the

upper part of the catchment would also assist in further identification of flood producing

rainfall.

4.3 Revised proposal

The revised proposed network design is shown in Table 3 and Attachment 3.

Table 3: Revised proposed infrastructure investment for Gladstone LGA

Priority Sequence

No

Type Comment

KBR

proposal

0154

Rn/Rv

Agreed. However station would be best located

further upstream at Builyan.

0155 Rn Removed.

0156 Rn Removed.

Existing

upgrade

Castlehope Rn/Rv Agreed. DNRM station upgrade to ALERT

technology.

New

assets

Bruce Hwy Rn/Rv Agreed. New station to inform council and the

public on river levels at a major river crossing.

10

Hazeldean Rn/Rv Strategically placed Rn/Rv upstream of

Castlehope and the proposed Bruce Highway

station.

Alma Ck Rn Upper Calliope River catchment rain gauge

Mt Alma Rn Upper Calliope River catchment rain gauge

Budjerie Ck Rn Upper Calliope River catchment rain gauge

Where possible the investment should use real-time telemetry, however, the final

design will be limited by such factors and access, communications, technology, cost

and community opinion.

11

Having reviewed the KBR proposal and consideration of the views made by officers of

the Gladstone Regional Council this section presents the investment plan based on the

assessment made in section 4.

5.1 Stakeholders

The primary stakeholders in the investment plan are Gladstone Regional Council.

Council is responsible for the ownership and ongoing maintenance of new

infrastructure.

As with any investment strategy, agency budget and planning programs will

dictate whether investment expenditure occurs. Attachment 5 provides some

factors council will need to consider to prioritising future investments.

5.2 Proposed investment

Council have invested heavily in real-time telemetry (Alert) and recommendations

should keep with this communication technology, though this may require further

investment in repeater stations. Where this is known an allowance is made for these in

the capital cost estimates; however, final budget estimates need to consider as well

construction costs and some of the out-of-scope costs discussed below.

5.2.1 Capital Costs

Table 4 below provides capital costs for the revised investment proposal listed at Table

3. Estimates are based on historical figures.

Table 4: Investment plan for the Gladstone Shire LGA.

Assets Investment

No

Type Cost Estimate

GRC Bureau

KBR

proposed

0154 Rn/Rv $60,000 -

Existing

upgrade

Castlehope Rn/Rv $60,000* -

New

Assets

Mt Alma Rn $15,000 -

Alma Ck Rn $15,000 -

Budjerie Ck Rn $15,000 -

5 Revised investment plan

12

Hazeldean Rn/RV $60,000 -

Bruce Hwy Rn/Rv $60,000 -

Total $285,000 -

*Costs associated with this upgrade might be much lower than this amount due to the

possibility of co-locating with existing DNRM equipment.

5.2.2 Construction costs

As a general guide, construction and installation costs are of the same order as

the capital costs. However, constructions costs can only be determined once

proper site investigations, a detailed design and procurement are completed.

Attachment 6 provides a short discussion on the range of basic and supplementary

services (cost recovered) that the Bureau of Meteorology provides to assist with

investment proposals for both riverine and flash flood warning services.

5.2.3 Out-of-scope costs

No allowance has been made for ancillary costs associated either with realising or

maturing the investment into a warning service, although an investment is established

the provision of flood warnings falls within the Bureau's basic flood warning service. In

considering the out-of-scope costs, council should review the questions listed at

Attachment 5.

Typical costs that are out-of-scope include (i) annual ongoing and maintenance costs,

usually are in the order of 1% of the investment cost, (ii) annual sinking fund costs for

the replacement of the investment and (iii) a community education program around the

expected outcomes and disaster management improvements. Council will need to

factor these costs into annual works programs.

The Bureau does not provide an operational flash flood warning service, and supports

by providing Severe Weather or Severe Thunderstorm warnings for heavy rainfall

conducive to flash flooding. The Bureau can assist local councils and other local

agencies to develop flash flood warning systems. For example, the Bureau has started

to build the Flash Flood Advisory Resource (FLARE) web service that will provide local

and state government agencies with advice on best practice solutions to local flash

flood warning service.

5.3 Benefit-cost

The cost-benefit of the proposed investment is difficult to assess given flood

damage/impact data is not readily available for the Gladstone Regional LGA. It is

13

recognised world-wide that flood warning systems including gauge networks are

generally a positive investment.

In Australia, for example, where such investments have occurred, the benefit-cost ratio

is greater than 1:2 and in some instances as much as 1:4. When combined with a

proper and emergency warning framework, including public education, the social and

economic benefits to the community can be considerable.

14

Insert KBR proposed map

Attachment 1 – KBR proposed plan

15

Insert Bureau flood warning network map

Attachment 2 – Bureau flood warning network for Calliope,

Boyne, Baffle & Kolan basins

16

Insert QRA proposed network investment map at the basin level

Attachment 3 – Recommended network map at basin level

17

Insert QRA proposed network investment map at the LGA level

Attachment 4 – Recommended network map at LGA level

18

The following questions are provided for consideration in reviewing the investment recommendations in this report given council is responsible for the ownership and ongoing maintenance of all new infrastructure or equipment.

Table 5: Questions for council to consider in assessing the investment recommendations.

Category Description

Network investment

What are council's gauge priorities for both the catchment area and local government area for,

the next 12 months,

next 3 to 5 years?

Is council fully aware of the ownership arrangements and type of gauges within the existing network?

Will the recommended gauge investment by council make redundant or supersede existing gauges that provide river or rain data owned by other agencies?

Has council sought advice on the “fit for purpose” asset for their needs?

Communications Has council discussed with their surrounding LGA partners to coordinate their investment strategies?

Budgets Has council properly understood the design and installation costs of the asset?

Has the necessary communication infrastructure design (e.g.; 3G/4G, HF with repeater stations etc.) to operate gauge assets been understood and factored in to the design, funding and the operations and maintenance costs?

What will be the impact on council's operating budget to operate the existing network and proposed gauge investment?

Are there opportunities for reducing operations and maintenance costs by,

contract

co-council sharing

locally trained businesses

spares management

equipment standardisation

Funding Are there any other funding opportunities for gauge operation and maintenance?

Asset register Is the existing gauge network recorded in council's asset management register?

Attachment 5 – Considerations for council

19

Service level specification

The Service Level Specification (SLS) 1 is a publication that describes the flood

forecasting and warning services provided by the BoM in Queensland, its role in the

Total Flood Warning System (TFWS) and its interaction with other stakeholders as

described in the National Arrangements for Flood Forecasting and Warning (Bureau of

Meteorology, 2015)2.

The nature of the services covered by the SLS include undertaking the routine

catchment monitoring and river height prediction activities necessary for the TFWS, as

well as issuing and publishing specific warning and data products. The full range of

basic services is described in Section 3 of the SLS.

Supplementary services

The Bureau will continue to be involved in flood warning networks and services,

however, its involvement for activities outside the basic service (as described in the

SLS) will be provided under a supplementary service arrangement; that is, provided on

a cost recovery or commercial basis.

For example, the Bureau will provide specifications and standards free of charge, but

will charge external parties for the involvement in network design, installation and

commissioning of a new network, develop flood forecasting models or set up a flood

warning service. However, these are one-off charges; once a service has been

provided or established, the Bureau does not charge for the ongoing issuing and

delivery of warnings and forecasts for an area. As well, the Bureau will not charge for

the setup and display of data for third party networks where the data is of a suitable

quality and of mutual benefit to Bureau services.

Error! Reference source not found. provides the full schedule of the Bureau's basic

and supplementary flood forecasting and warning services for riverine and flash flood

conditions.

1 See http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/brochures/SLS-2014-15-QLD-SIGNED.pdf

2 See http://www.bom.gov.au/water/floods/document/National-Arrangements.pdf

Attachment 6 – Bureau services

20

Table 6: Schedule of Bureau of Meteorology flood forecasting and warning services

Su

pp

lem

en

tary

Se

rvic

e

Ba

sic

Se

rvic

e

(SL

S)

Oth

er

ag

en

cy (

out-

so

urc

ed

)

1. FLOOD WARNING NETWORK SERVICES Provision of Bureau network and data standards for contract works

Preliminary design of a flood warning network (ALERT, telephone telemetry or Manual)

Detailed design of a flood warning network Purchasing of equipment for new flood warning network Installation and commissioning of a flood warning network

Commissioning of a flood warning network installed by a third party

Installation of or check surveys of manual gauge boards at a river height site

Planned maintenance of a rainfall, river or rain/river site Full support of a flood warning station including planned and unplanned maintenance

2. ENVIRONMON SERVICES Supply of ENVIROMON software licence Installation of an ENVIROMON base-station hardware Installation of an ENVIROMON software and commissioning of base-station

Onsite ENVIROMON training ENVIROMON base-station maintenance and support

3. FLOOD INFORMATION SERVICES Requests for rainfall and river level time series data Requests for peak height information Setup and publish data for new rain and/or river sites Ongoing maintenance of rain and/or river metadata in Bureau systems

Provision of Bureau real-time rainfall and river level data using FTP or ENVIROMON UDP

Comparison of observed rainfalls to IFD design rainfalls Comparison to historical records for media and emergency services

Display of flood data, warnings, watches, and other flood information on the Bureau website

Development of special registered user websites to meet specific customer needs

4. FLOOD MODELLING SERVICES Update existing flood forecasting models with new rainfall/river stations

Develop and calibrate a new flood forecasting model for a catchment

Representation on steering groups for modelling studies Consultancy services to conduct flood studies and develop inundation mapping

Recalibrating an existing flood model

21

Su

pp

lem

en

tary

Se

rvic

e

Ba

sic

Se

rvic

e

(SL

S)

Oth

er

ag

en

cy (

out-

so

urc

ed

)

5. FLOOD FORECASTING AND WARNING SERVICES Provide flood forecasting service for a specific location or catchment (incl. Flash Flood, mining)

Provision of flood scenarios during events Briefings to emergency services during events Flood warning and watch services Performance analysis and reporting Post flood reporting and debriefs Preparation and involvement in emergency services exercises

Non-operational elaborative briefing

Gauge categories

The collection and publishing of rainfall and river levels is an important component of the overall flood warning service. Apart from the Bureau using the data for analysis and its hydrological modelling for flood predictions, the data is also used by the emergency service agencies, numerous operational agencies, businesses and the public to monitor rainfall and river conditions. To assist in describing the service, the locations where river height; dam, weir or lake level; and tidal observations are made are categorised into three types; namely forecast location, information location and data location. Table 7 provides the qualifying information at each of these location categories. A forecast location is a location for which the Bureau provides a forecast of future water level either as the class of flood that is predicted (minor, moderate or major) or as a level and class. At these locations observed data, class of flood and additional qualifying information will also be available. An information location is a location at which flood classifications are defined and observations of water level data are provided. At these locations forecasts of future water level are not produced. Other key thresholds may be defined and reported against. A data location is a location for which just the observed water level data is provided. Flood classifications are not available and forecasts of future water level are not produced.

22

Table 7: Requirements in the defining of location type

Flash Flood Advisory Resource

Establishment of the Flash Flood Advisory Resource (FLARE) by the Bureau was

recommended by the Standardisation of the Bureau of Meteorology Hazard Services

Taskforce, convened under ANZEMC. The FLARE will deliver two key components for

dedicated access to local councils, emergency services and other state and territory

agencies:

1) A registered user access web service providing detailed technical information

including standards for setting up and maintaining flash flood infrastructure, case

studies of best practice flash flood warning systems and arrangements, and

introduction to new technology in areas such as radar, forecast rainfall and data

communications.

2) A telephone and email based free advisory service providing access to

subject matter experts in flash flood warning systems and services. This will be during

business hours only and is not an operational service.

Location type Attributes

Forecast

location

As a quantitative prediction location

o Suitable rain and river data collection network

upstream

o Reliable rating curve

o Sufficient historical information for model calibration

Qualitative prediction location

o Usually less information available (both historical

and real-time)

o Definable uncertainty in rating curve

o Definable flood classifications

Information

location

Limited upstream rainfall and river level information

Definable minor flood level

Definable key thresholds, if required

Data location Data availability in real-time (via telemetry or FTP)

23

[Insert FLARE brochure]