From DataNSW
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River Condition Index (RCI)

Created 24/06/2025

Updated 19/12/2025

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The NSW River Condition Index (RCI) is the primary long-term reporting tool for assessing riverine condition. It combines a range of indicators into a single condition score, including riparian vegetation, geomorphic condition, hydrologic stress, biodiversity, catchment disturbance, and water quality.

The RCI was developed in 2012 using the Framework for the Assessment of River and Wetland Health (FARWH) approach. The FARWH is an accepted method applied throughout Australia that uses existing data collection activities across jurisdictions and converts them into a standardised and nationally comparable representation of river health.

The River Condition Index: method document (aka River Condition Index Manual_Method Report.pdf) provides a detailed explanation of the index and how it has been applied across NSW. This reflects the latest version of the RCI product.

Note: If you would like to ask a question, make any suggestions, or tell us how you are using this dataset, please visit the NSW Water Hub which has an online forum you can join.

Files and APIs

Tags

Additional Info

Field Value
Title River Condition Index (RCI)
Language English
Licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/92e1cb79-71ae-44a0-ba99-a6da918fb42b
Remote Last Updated 05/12/2025
Contact Point
NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
?datansw@customerservice.nsw.gov.au
Reference Period 01/07/2022 - 31/01/2023
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        141,
        -37.7
      ],
      [
        141,
        -28
      ],
      [
        154,
        -28
      ],
      [
        154,
        -37.7
      ],
      [
        141,
        -37.7
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal DataNSW

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on DataNSW "River Condition Index (RCI)". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/nsw-river-condition-index-rci