This was published 3 years ago
Big inland flows to fill Menindee Lakes for first time in five years
By Peter Hannam
Residents of far-western NSW are gearing up for the arrival of floodwaters flowing down the Barwon-Darling to give Menindee Lakes its first big fill in about five years.
Heavy rainfall in southern Queensland and inland NSW weeks ago are filling the river at outback towns such as Brewarrina and Bourke, with flood peaks of 9.4 metres expected to reach Wilcannia by late May, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Water flows from Lake Wetherell into Lake Pamamaroo, and will end up soon in Menindee Lakes.Credit: Graeme McCrabb
The expected flows mean the NSW government will open the flood gates between Lake Pamamaroo and the Menindee Lakes on Thursday for the first time since 2016.
“It’s a good, heartening feeling to know that water will be coming back into Menindee Lakes,” Graeme McCrabb, a resident, said. “I expect 1000 gigalitres [one trillion litres] to flow over the Wilcannia weir with about 950 gigalitres reaching Menindee.”
The size of the floods are likely to far exceed the flows that reached the region in March 2020, the first major flush of water after years of drought. At their worst, the lack of water contributed to mass fish kills in the 2018-19 summer that Mr McCrabb helped to publicise.
Mr McCrabb said the imminent flood event should offer an opportunity to change the way the huge lake system is managed.
Under current rules, once the volume in Menindee Lakes passes 640 gigalitres, control passes from the NSW government to the Murray Darling Basin. It reverts to NSW control when levels drop below 480 gigalitres.
During the last influx, the lakes filled but then rapidly emptied to meet water demand downstream in the Murray-Darling system. Critics said the deaths of millions of fish and severe water restrictions for locals could have been alleviated if more water had been held in the lakes longer.
“It would be stupid to put us in an identical position as we were two years at the time of the fish kills,” Mr McCrabb said.
Water Minister Melinda Pavey, who is scheduled to attend the gates opening, said WaterNSW modelling indicates that inflows will continue into June, and will exceed 650 gigalitres since first reaching the lakes in January.
“These inflows will go a long way to replenishing the environment, the town water supply weirs, and the needs of agricultural producers and farm families, bringing sustained relief to a region of NSW that suffered severely during the drought,” Ms Pavey said.
A spokeswoman for the Murray Darling Basin Authority said the 640-gigalitre trigger point for transferring control to the Commonwealth agency was part of an agreement by all the eastern states dating back a century.
“Any changes to the agreement requires sign-off by all basin states,” she said.
Local MP Roy Butler, of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, said the Menindee Lakes system was a vital ecosystem for water birds and native fish that desperately need a breeding cycle.
“The tourism that water in the lakes brings bolsters the Menindee and surrounding economies,” Mr Butler said. “The cultural and social wellbeing of local Aboriginal nations are strongly tied to the health of the lakes and rivers.
“The Lower Darling can be protected for months and possibly years with this water and subsequent flows,” he said.