When you think of surveying, chances are your mind goes to property boundaries, construction sites or new roads.
But what about measuring a lake?
A new survey of the Menindee Lakes in far-western New South Wales provides a fascinating example of just how diverse surveying and geospatial careers can be – and why accurate spatial data matters far beyond the location where it is collected.
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority is reviewing the way the Menindee Lakes System is operated and managed, with updated information helping authorities better understand the system and plan for its future.
And while Menindee might seem a long way from Victoria, what happens there has a very real connection to our state.
An interconnected water system
The Menindee Lakes form part of the enormous Murray–Darling Basin, Australia’s largest and most complex river system.
Stretching across Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and South Australia, the Basin is not a collection of isolated rivers and lakes. It is an interconnected system where decisions and conditions in one location can have implications hundreds of kilometres away.
For Victoria, that connection is particularly important.
Under the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement, Victoria and New South Wales equally share inflows to the Menindee Lakes. Water stored in the lakes helps underpin the reliability of Victorian Murray water entitlements, particularly during dry conditions, and can also reduce reliance on water stored further upstream in Hume and Dartmouth dams.
In other words, a lake system located in NSW can play a role in water availability and river operations here in Victoria.
So, how do you survey a lake?
Surveying a lake is a little different from measuring a block of land.
To understand a waterbody properly, specialists need accurate information about its shape, depth, surrounding terrain and how these features change over time.
This can involve bathymetric surveying, which maps the underwater terrain of lakes, rivers and other bodies of water, along with technologies such as GNSS positioning, sonar, LiDAR, drones and sophisticated geospatial mapping systems.
The result is much more than an interesting map.
Accurate measurements can help determine how much water a lake can actually hold, identify changes caused by sedimentation and erosion, improve modelling and provide better information for managing water resources.
And when you’re dealing with a system as large and important as the Murray–Darling Basin, having reliable data matters.
Bringing it home to Victoria
The same principles apply across Victoria.
The Murray–Darling Basin includes many waterways familiar to Victorians, with rivers such as the Murray, Goulburn, Ovens, Broken, Campaspe and Loddon forming part of the broader system.
Victoria is also home to significant Murray floodplain environments and wetlands that depend on how water moves through this connected network.
Understanding these environments requires data – lots of it.
From mapping riverbanks and floodplains to monitoring changes in waterways, modelling water movement and capturing the shape of the landscape above and below the waterline, surveying and geospatial expertise helps provide the information needed to understand what is happening on the ground.
Surveying is everywhere – even underwater
Projects like Menindee are a great reminder that a career in surveying can take you to some unexpected places.
Surveyors don’t just work on building sites or mark property boundaries.
They can work with drones, laser scanners, satellites, sonar, 3D models and sophisticated mapping technology. They can contribute to infrastructure, environmental management, disaster response, agriculture, water management and the protection of our natural environments.
One day you could be surveying a major construction project.
Another, you could be helping map a river, wetland or lake.
And the information you collect could contribute to decisions affecting communities and environments hundreds of kilometres away.
That’s the power of good spatial data – and another reason why surveying is a career with almost limitless possibilities.