At the very top of its catchment, the Murrumbidgee River is a temperate-zone, upland stream that should be characterised by cool, fast flowing waters, where turbidity and washload increases as one travels downstream. These features arise from the geographic and climatic variables of the catchment, which in turn influences the biota present (Bolton & Brock, 1999). In the present day however, physical and biotic changes along a river's longitudinal profile are not only a result of the interplay of catchment characteristics but, and sometimes more influentially, that of human management (or the lack of) which affects the stream. The upper Murrumbidgee is a topical example, where Tantangara Dam diverts 95% of the headwater flows, and is a major factor affecting the character and ecological processes which support the health and the socio-ecological values of the river. The few river health audits which exist for the upper Murrumbidgee describe it as being in a state of decline (Davies, Stewardson, Hillman, Roberts & Thoms, 2012).
Upper Murrumbidgee Waterwatch has been monitoring the health of the upper Murrumbidgee at 20 sites along the river between Tantangara and Burrinjuck Dams, carrying out physio-chemical, macro-invertebrate and riparian surveys with some sites being monitored for over ten years. This data set provides a valuable description of the longitudinal changes of bio-physical characteristics that occur along the upper Murrumbidgee's length and has much to offer when considered in the light of what would be ecologically characteristic for the stream, its socio-ecological values and how the catchment community is working together to gain better outcomes for river health.