Murray-Darling river system set to flow again after substantial rainfall

For the first time in two years the Murray-Darling is set to become a connected river system again, running from Queensland to South Australia.

An aerial view of the Darling river bed on February 19, 2020 in Louth, NSW. For the first time in two years the Murray-Darling is set to become a connected river system again, running from Queensland to South Australia.

For the first time in two years the Murray-Darling is set to become a connected river system again, running from Queensland to South Australia.

NSW officials said the Darling River is expected to link up with the Murray River Sunday night, after flows from substantial rainfall in recent months progressively made their way south.

NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey said the flows had pushed down the southern section of the Darling to finally approach Wentworth, the NSW town on the Murray on the Victorian border where the two rivers join.

Ms Pavey said the news was a measure of relief for parts of the state that have suffered through the worst of the drought.

“The flow, generated by rain over the past two months, is the best to occur naturally in the Barwon-Darling since the floods of 2016,” she said.

Large sections of the Darling had dried up altogether or remained in unconnected pools during the drought, and some towns including Pooncarie in the west of the state had run out of water from the river, forcing officials to sink bores.

“Between 390 and 420 gigalitres of water is estimated to flow into the Menindee Lakes over the coming weeks,” Ms Pavey said.

In this February, 2019 picture, a decaying sheep stuck in the mud of a water canal between Pooncarie and Menindee, which has been under pressure from low water flow as a result of the continuing drought.

Those volumes enabled NSW water officials to restart flows to the lower Darling making water available to some farmers in the southwest.

In its latest report the Murray-Darling Basin Authority said the drought continued overall and storage levels still remained at historically low levels.

Overall basin storage levels are currently at 13 per cent in the northern basin and 33 per cent in the southern basin.

Only Menindee Lakes showed a large increase in the last fortnight; up 7 per cent to 12 per cent, and more rain would be required in coming months to take pressure off drought-affected areas.

The flow would improve the Murray-Darling’s ecological health and help native fish as the flows reconnect refuge pools.