Abstract

The Bureau of Meteorology is developing a national water information service under the authority of the Water Act 2007 (Cwlth). Water information standards will provide a formal basis for data interoperability and information quality. The approach now being proposed includes a mixture of compulsory and community endorsed standards. Community endorsed standards represent best practice for data capture and management but compliance is not compulsory. These standards complement existing standards published by Standards Australia, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and other bodies.

The Bureau has established the Water Information Standards Business Forum (the Forum), with membership from state and Commonwealth agencies, and from interested parties across the nation. A key function of the Forum is to review and endorse water information standards.

The endorsement process is currently being piloted prior to signoff by the Forum, reviewing two series of standards developed with funding from the Bureau’s Modernisation and Extension of Hydrologic Monitoring Systems program:

• Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Standards (led by Mark Randall, Qld DNRM)
• New South Wales Hydrometric Standards (led by Grant Robinson, NOW)