Trillions of litres of water released into Murray-Darling fails to help threatened species, research finds

A just add water' approach is unlikely to be successful, with better monitoring of species needed to target environmental watering

Trillions of litres of water released into the Murray-Darling Basin to benefit the environment have had no overall beneficial effect" on the populations of threatened species, according to new research.

In a damning assessment of the monitoring of eight threatened species, the research from Australian National University scientists says the public reporting of the benefits of environmental watering was fragmentary and not backed by evidence.