COMMONWEALTH ENVIRONMENTAL WATER

Webcam

Commonwealth environmental watering in the Murrumbidgee River

In June 2011, more than 150 gigalitres of water recovered for the environment was used to provide river flows along the Murrumbidgee River, and to benefit the Murray system as far downstream as South Australia's Lower Lakes and Coorong.

In the largest use of Commonwealth environment water to date, the environmental flows included more than 100 gigalitres of Commonwealth water, with additional contributions from the NSW Government and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's Living Murray program.

The environmental flows filled hundreds of small wetlands located along the Murrumbidgee River from Gundagai through to the Murray River.

A camera has been installed in one of these wetlands, Sunshower Lagoon near Darlington Point in the Murrumbidgee catchment. The images on this webpage show the watering action at Sunshower Lagoon as it occured, and the ecological response at the site in the following months.

Over ten days from around 20 June 2011, environmental water filled Sunshower Lagoon as the flow peak in the river passed the wetland. The water levels then receded over the following weeks, leaving water that will help sustain the wetland through to the next inundation. The videos also show that, following substantial rainfall across the Murrumbidgee catchment, another flow filled the wetland in late August.

The purpose of the watering action was to support wetland habitat and river red gums, and promote natural riverine processes, which will support food chains of fish, frogs and waterbirds. Despite good rainfall over the last year, the ecological response in parts of the Murrumbidgee has been limited. The watering action seeks to address this by providing a good wetting through to spring for the river and many fringing wetlands.

The images of Sunshower Lagoon show some water at the site prior to the watering action. A key element of this watering action is to provide river flows that flush water from wetlands, such as Sunshower Lagoon, into the river. This should help provide better wetland habitat, and wash nutrients into the river for environmental assets downstream.