Menindee primed for third mass fish kill, locals say

Menindee residents fear the Darling River is primed for a repeat of the mass fish kill event that shocked the country earlier this year.

Menindee resident Graeme McCrabb has warned the Lower Darling River is facing a “sea of death” if urgent action isn’t taken to prevent another mass fish kill. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Menindee locals are warning the Darling River is primed for another mass fish kill event.

Veteran water advocate and chairman of the South West Water Users Association Howard Jones said there were signs a major ecological disaster in the river was imminent.

“There are fish starting to float to the top already,” Mr Jones said.

“From Ellerslie down to Wentworth, the river is a nasty green colour all the way through.

“If we start to get a little bit of warmer weather, what’s that going to do?”

If a fish kill took place, it would be the third mass fish death event in the lower Darling since 2020.

A dead Murray Cod found in the Menindee weir pool this week. Picture: Graeme McCrabb

Millions of fish died in the Darling River at Menindee in March, clogging the surface of the water with a mass of rotting fish carcasses.

Mr Jones said those dead fish had since sunk to the bottom of the weir pool below the Menindee township, releasing nutrients into the water and consuming oxygen as they decomposed.

With temperatures now starting to warm up, Mr Jones warned it could take just a few days of temperatures above 30 degrees for another mass fish kill event to get underway.

“I’m worried about the communities from Menindee down. That’s their drinking water. That’s their stock and domestic water,” he said.

Chairman of the south west water users association Howard Jones fears a repeat of the Menindee fish kills. Pictured: Howard Jones in Red Cliffs during a previous drought.

WaterNSW has active red alerts for blue-green algae in place at three locations on the Lower Darling-Barka River, after potentially toxic levels of the cyanobacteria were detected in June and July.

The authority has warned people to avoid drinking or touching the water, and to keep livestock and pets away from it.

NSW Environment Protection Authority monitoring found “high concentrations” of nitrogen and phosphorous in the water in March, which were still present in May.

The EPA has not provided an update on water monitoring at Menindee since May 18.

Discoloured water at Little Menindee Creek this week. Picture: Graeme McCrabb

WaterNSW flow and storage data shows Menindee Lakes are at 85 per cent capacity. The authority has sharply dropped releases from the lakes to 200 megalitres per day, down from 5000ML/day in March.

Menindee resident and water advocate Graeme McCrabb said the high releases in March gave the river a chance to flush nutrients downstream, but “coming into summer we won’t have that opportunity”.

“You’ll just get a sea of death go down and that’ll continue right through summer,” he said.

Mr McCrabb called for an embargo to be placed on upstream irrigators to stop them drawing water from the river, and allow more water to flow downstream.

Millions of fish died in Menindee in March. Photo: Graeme McCrabb

Menindee residents’ concerns come as the NSW regulator responsible for policing water theft reported 40 alleged breaches of water rules in the Darling and Namoi Rivers, which both flow into the Lower Darling, in the three months to June 30.

More than 85 per cent of the offences were related to water theft and metering breaches, the authority said.

When asked how much water was taken illegally, the regulator said in a statement “NRAR (the Natural Resources Access Regulator) does not currently collect and collate this type of data”.

A NSW Department of Planning and Environment spokesperson said the agency had limited water available to maintain river health.

“We are continuing water releases from Lake Pamamaroo to support fish health, but this supply is not unlimited, and we need to balance the need for future drought storage with another dry spell just around the corner,” the spokesperson said.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has been contacted for comment.

An independent inquiry into this year’s March fish kill event is still underway, and is due to report back to the NSW government by August 31.