Murrumbidgee Watering for 2011
During 2010-11, HRA worked with the NSW Government through the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage to identify a project to which donations could be directed on the Murrumbidgee River.
This led to a project called “Murrumbidgee Environmental Flow Piggybacking releases”. We are pleased to advise that we facilitated a donation of 1,500 ML of water to this project.
We believe this is one of the largest single donations of water by volume ever made to an environmental project in Australia.
The project involved strategically timed releases of environmental water down the Murrumbidgee River to replicate the wetland filling events of August 2010, which was the most successful piggybacking event to date in the Murrumbidgee Valley. Further background on how this project fits with the broader Murrumbidgee Annual Environmental Watering Plan 2011/12 can be provided on request.
The outcomes of this project include filling of low to mid level wetlands on the Murrumbidgee River floodplain to aid the long term recovery of aquatic plant associations that have been severely impacted by the long gap in inundation frequency during recent years. Other expected outcomes include recruitment of Southern Bell Frogs.
The water from HRA was used in combination with water from other government environmental water accounts, including from the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the NSW Government.