Murrumbidgee River and Lake George
Water Quality and River Flow Objectives
| Contents | Background | Consultation | Objectives | WQOs | RFOs | Glossary | Bibliography| Map |
At a Glance |
This section gives the Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) and the River Flow Objectives (RFOs) for the Murrumbidgee River and Lake George catchments, which will be used to develop plans and actions affecting water quality and river health. Only the priority RFOs are listed in this section, but the remaining objectives still need to be considered when developing flow management plans or dealing with particular local river conditions.
The following section provides a catchment-wide perspective in terms of the interim environmental objectives as they apply to the general waterway categories listed. The more detailed work already underway on the management of specific river reaches and localised
catchment areas must be recognised.
A broader catchment overview of the links and interactions between
upstream and downstream subcatchments is also necessary, and locally agreed objectives
will need to remain consistent with the statewide interim objectives outlined below.
Previous work has also defined four regions of the catchment with broadly different
characteristics. These are marked on the maps as:
- upper Murrumbidgee
- mid Murrumbidgee
- irrigation areas
- lower Murrumbidgee.
- Lake George catchment
Town water supply subcatchments
The streams in town water supply subcatchments typically feed into a town's water
supply storage. In many cases, the catchment may be declared as specially protected to
minimise land use effects on water quality.
Map: This category applies to streams running
through areas coloured light blue on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes the catchment of Googong Dam, which together with other dams in the ACT supplies Queanbeyan and Canberra. An interstate process is underway for this catchment to determine water planning arrangements.
- To ensure long-term achievement of these WQOs, existing land management programs aimed at maintaining or improving drinking water catchments should continue and be reviewed. The
Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2004 and Environmental Guide for the Management of Local Government Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services (DLWC 1997c) are important references.
- The Googong Reservoir Catchment Area is managed under the Googong Dam Catchment Area Act 1975.
- Not all parts of large river systems can be protected from human activities that degrade
drinking water quality. See 'Uncontrolled streams' and other river categories, below, for
objectives that apply to drinking water offtakes in other parts of the catchment.
- Local factors to be considered within the catchment area in determining how best to
protect pools in periods of no flow, to share low flows and to manage the catchment
include:
- maintaining natural flows from springs
- the needs of ecosystems and people within the area and downstream
- reliability of the town water supplies
- managing effects of land use on volumes and times of runoff, particularly in droughts.
- Protection of moderate and high flows in streams feeding into these dams is essential
for town water reliability and ecosystems. This is not listed as an objective for priority
action because it is currently being achieved.
- Minimising any adverse effects of weirs should continue and be a priority in all
streams.
Mainly forested areas
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Streams in these areas are valued for conservation or recreation. Streams that drain
catchments covered mainly by mature forest or woodland are likely to have relatively
natural flows and water quality.
Map: This category applies to uncontrolled
streams running through areas coloured green on the map (state forests, national parks and
nature reserves); and to streams in other forested areas or areas with locally defined
high conservation value.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
In many of the streams within upland forests, all RFOs are being achieved. Priority
action may be required to achieve one or more of the following objectives in uncontrolled
streams through other areas of forest or natural vegetation:
Supporting information
- Where the whole catchment of a stream is naturally vegetated, WQOs and RFOs are
generally achieved. High-level protection should be given to flows and water quality in
the least affected streams and in other streams with high conservation values. Existing
management practices in national parks or other reserves may already aim to achieve this.
In some streams, local circumstances restrict achievement of objectives. For example, the
use of streams in state forests by cattle may conflict with the achievement of water
quality suitable for swimming.
- Some streams flowing from disturbed vegetation, plantations or regrowth may meet all
WQOs and RFOs, but streams below recently disturbed sites may have increased turbidity.
Replacement of mature forest with extensive areas of rapidly growing trees may reduce low
flows in adjoining streams.
- Some of the state forests and other reserves marked on the map contain streams that
start in largely cleared land; for example, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area State Forest.
Water quality and flow patterns through these vegetated areas generally reflect any
impacts upstream. There may be high public expectations for water quality in these streams
owing to the public accessibility of these areas, particularly for recreation.
- Streams flowing out of naturally vegetated areas, including private forests, can provide
clean waters for downstream uses such as homesteads or livestock. These downstream
benefits should therefore be defined locally for specific protection.
- Aboriginal people have identified the consumption of raw aquatic foods as an existing
use within the catchment. NSW Health recommends against the consumption of raw shellfish
harvested on a non-commercial basis and local communities should be made aware of the
risks involved.
- Native vegetation on streambanks and floodplains can provide good habitats for native
fish, other animals and plants. The effective value of these habitats is likely to be
limited if the water quality is poor or if flow patterns are not sufficiently close to
natural to provide correct cues for breeding and survival of the offspring. Returning
water quality and flow patterns as close as possible to natural is therefore desirable.
- Timber production from river red gum forests and the conservation values of some forest
ecosystems on the Murrumbidgee floodplain have been reduced by a reduction in the
frequency, duration and variability of moderate and high flows in winter and spring or by
lack of drying in late summer or autumn. These values may also be reduced if the
watertable is unnaturally high or low. Alterations of inundation or two-way flow patterns
by channels, earth banks, roads or weirs can reduce the value of streams in these forests
as nursery grounds for native fish as well as influencing forest productivity. Native fish
are sometimes killed in high-flow channels filled with gum leaves by a rapid decline in
oxygen levels after a brief flow in spring ('blackwater'). This would occur less often if
spring flows through these channels continued for longer or were preceded by winter flows.
- If the catchment or river management committees consider that a high level of protection
should apply to streams with high conservation value outside reserves, they may seek local
views and make recommendations to the Government.
Waterways affected by urban development
|
Waterways within urban areas are prone to substantial modification and may carry
poor-quality stormwater. Local communities are often keen to see these waterways returned
to more natural conditions.
Map: These areas are shown in orange or as orange
dots on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes creeks within towns such as Queanbeyan and Wagga Wagga.
- In some urban waterways, aquatic ecosystems are considerably modified. A return to
pristine aquatic ecosystems in these areas is unlikely and impractical, but water quality
conditions for existing ecosystems can be improved greatly for the benefit of local
species and broader catchment health. Data from other local aquatic ecosystems of similar
type, in areas that are not urbanised, may provide achievable criteria for these
ecosystems.
- Action is needed to reduce water quality impacts from stormwater and sewage discharges
and unsewered villages.
- Local councils have produced stormwater management plans for towns with more than 1000 people.
- Guidance on Managing Urban Stormwater to be published in 2006 describes how councils and developes can contribute to Water Quality Objectives in planning, developing and designing urban areas.
- The Environmental Guide for the Management of Local Government Water Supply, Sewerage
And Drainage Services (DLWC 1997c) helps councils in providing and managing sewerage
and drainage in a way that will achieve sustainable outcomes.
- The tendency for urban development to cause rapid rises in storm runoff should be
minimised.
- See comments regarding 'Uncontrolled streams', below.
Waterways affected by irrigation drainage
|
This applies to natural and semi-natural waterways whose flows are now dominated for
substantial periods by irrigation drainage. Flow and water quality are therefore largely
unnatural.
Map: These waterways are shown as green lines on
the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes Mirrool Creek downstream from Barren Box Swamp and the creeks
south-west of Coleambally receiving outflows from the Coleambally Irrigation Area.
- Environmental values for water quality for human use are to be determined locally on a
case-by-case basis. Water quality must meet the needs of water uses and values within and
downstream of these waters. Continuing improvement of water quality for aquatic ecosystems
will provide a basis for protecting other water uses.
- In managing these waterways, agreements under land and water management plans should be
respected. Planners should take into account these RFOs, along with water quality, social
objectives and economic objectives, in resolving outstanding or new issues of
drainage-water management and in developing action plans for these creeks.
- Water draining into these natural waterways from irrigation areas tends to be of poor
quality. Sources of salts, nutrients, turbidity and pesticides entering natural waterways
will need to be further controlled to meet community objectives. These objectives require
further definition. They include protection of existing ecosystems and the needs of
landholders along these waterways.
- See volume 2 of the DLWC's State of the Rivers Report, Murrumbidgee Catchment,
1994-95 for the priority environmental values for each hydraulic zone. The achievement
of these objectives will be monitored by DLWC over time.
- The Land and Water Management Plans for the Murrumbidgee and Coleambally irrigation areas address irrigation drainage issues. These plans have incorporated benchmark levels for some water quality indicators, based on ANZECC (2000) guidelines. Some chemical contaminants entering waterways are still above these guidelines at times. The Environment Protection Licence issued to the Irrigation Corporations requires the preparation and
implementation of a Chemical Contingency Plan to detect elevated levels of pesticides in drainage water before it is released to receiving waters outside the irrigation area and
to ensure appropriate responses. In most instances, an elevated level is detected and reduced before being discharged from the irrigation area.
- The volume and flow pattern of drainage water reaching these waterways will gradually change as the land and water management plans for the Murrumbidgee and Coleambally irrigation areas are implemented. Management of irrigation in other areas, such as the Wah Wah irrigation district, and along the Coleambally outfall drain, will also continue to depend on and affect these waterways.
- Priority action to mimic natural drying periods and variability is warranted in developing and implementing plans for these waterways, irrigated lands upstream, and Barren Box Swamp. Local social, economic and environmental factors will need to be
considered to determine appropriate action-including the dependence of irrigators and livestock enterprises on drainage water, and the risks of rising watertables to natural
values of these waterways and Barren Box Swamp. A project to reduce evaporation from Barren Box Swamp and to improve environmental outcomes commenced in 2005. The project will involve dividing the swamp into cells, of which only one cell will be used for tailwater storage, while the others are restored to wetland conditions.
Uncontrolled streams and the Lake George catchment
|
This category applies to all streams, wetlands and natural lakes that are not in the
other categories. The flow patterns of these streams are largely natural. It also includes
Lake George and all waters feeding into the lake.
Map: Uncontrolled streams are marked as blue
lines on a pale yellow background on the map. The Lake George catchment adjoins the upper
Murrumbidgee catchment and is marked by a number 5 on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
For all streams:
For streams with relatively high extraction rates:
For groundwater areas that sometimes feed water into streams, or are naturally shallow
enough to supply trees, or have rising watertables:
For all wetlands, lakes, high-flow channels, remnant floodplain vegetation and
adjoining lands and watercourses:
Supporting information
- See the DLWC's State of the Rivers Report, Murrumbidgee Catchment, 1994-95,
for a detailed list of priority environmental values for each hydraulic zone. The
achievement of these values will be audited over time to ensure consistency with water
quality needs of people within and downstream of the zones.
- A large number and range of existing catchment and water quality programs are making
progress on achieving WQOs throughout the catchment. These include the Murrumbidgee
Catchment Action Plan, Rivercare and Landcare projects, nutrient control works, Salt
Action, local government and industry initiatives, and other community efforts. Many water
quality improvement works have been implemented, including sewerage system upgrades. All
programs will need overall coordination in river management plans.
- Achieving drinking water objectives for these streams means that the quality of water
drawn at point of supply must be good enough for the available level of treatment to
remain affordable and effective. Towns that extract drinking water from streams or bores
include Yass and Captains Flat. The licensed supply offtakes and bores are mapped in
volume 2 of the DLWC's State of the Rivers Report, Murrumbidgee Catchment,
1994-95.
- Local factors for consideration in sharing river flows, particularly in dry seasons, and
protecting inundation patterns of flood-dependent ecosystems include:
- strong demand for low flows from some streams; for example, the Numeralla River and
Muttama Creek
- the need to maintain native fish populations and the ability of these streams to help
restore native fish populations in the Murrumbidgee, where populations have declined
- interactions between flow, water quality and stream banks
- the recognised high conservation value of extensive wetlands, including Lake George
(where RFOs are already largely being achieved), and the lignum swamps and red gum forests
of the Lowbidgee wetland district (where management planning has started for part of the
district, but where several RFOs are not currently being achieved)
- the need to identify ecological and human values, inundation patterns and local inflow
needs of smaller wetlands in the Lake George catchment and in each region of the
Murrumbidgee catchment
- the dependence of wetlands along uncontrolled streams in the lower region, including
effluents and anabranches of the Murrumbidgee, on both floods from the river and local
inundation patterns.
- In relation to RFO Manage groundwater for ecosystems, areas should be identified where streamflows or ecosystems could be affected by changes in groundwater levels. Some
aquifers that appear likely to support ecosystems or to contribute valuable surface flows
have already been identified (e.g. in the Murrumbateman and Kyeamba valley areas).
Groundwater is very important to Lake George. There are also aquifers where the watertable is rising and threatening ecosystems, agriculture or water quality, such as the shallow
Shepparton formation aquifer between Narrandera and Carrathool. This was considered during development of the Water Sharing Plan (WSP) for the Lower Murrumbidgee Groundwater Source, which will commence in 2006. Community action to stop watertables rising has begun.
- RFO Minimise effects of weirs and other
structures is important throughout the Murrumbidgee catchment.
Streams affected by Snowy Scheme
|
These streams either contribute to or receive flow from the Snowy Mountains
Hydro-electric Scheme. The Snowy Water Inquiry was commissioned in 1998 to assess river management of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme and recommend environmental flow options for rivers affected by the Scheme. The Inquiry's terms of reference required analysis of the environmental, social and economic effects of various options for future management, prior to making recommendations to the NSW and Victorian Governments. The final report of the Inquiry was submitted on 23 October 1998. In August 2000, the NSW and Victorian Governments reached an agreement for environmental releases for the Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam which will increase flows from 1% to 22% of natural flows downstream of Jindabyne Dam within 10 years. Releases were also agreed for other rivers affected by the Scheme, including the upper Murrumbidgee River, the upper Snowy River (above Jindabyne Dam), the Goodradigbee River and the Geehi River.
Map: This category applies to streams in the
areas coloured pink on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
All eleven inland RFOs should be considered in flow planning and management. However, the overall framework for the amounts of flow diverted to or from streams affected by the Snowy Scheme has been agreed by the NSW, Victorian and Commonwealth governments and is regulated by the Snowy Water Licence under the NSW Snowy Hydro Corpratisation Act 1998.
Supporting information
- This category applies to the Murrumbidgee and Goodradigbee rivers above Burrinjuck Dam;
and the Tumut River above Blowering Dam.
- A range of existing water and catchment management plans for the upper catchment will need overall coordination by the Catchment Management Authority.
- WQOs and action plans to achieve them need to be further developed in the context of the flow management framework prescribed by the Snowy Water Licence.
- Raw drinking water sources must be maintained at sufficient quality so that available
treatment remains affordable and effective. Towns on these streams that extract water for
drinking include Cooma, Batlow and Bredbo.
- An additional objective, 'Industrial water supplies' (e.g. protecting water quality for
safe use in hydro-electric power stations) applies to waters in streams and storages used
for power generation.
Major regulated rivers
|
These are rivers from which large volumes of water are diverted for irrigation by large dams. Flows during the irrigation season are supplemented by release of water stored
from high flows, resulting in unnaturally high water levels in summer. These flows lack
natural patterns of variability and sometimes change rapidly. River flow is substantially
reduced during non- or low-irrigation seasons. At any time of year in periods which would
normally have high or very high flow, flows may be substantially reduced by the trapping
of water in a large dam.
Map: These rivers are shown as yellow lines on
the map.
Water Quality Objectives:
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
No RFOs were recommended in 1999 as flow rules had been developed by the former river management committee. In 2004, a Water Sharing Plan (WSP) commenced for the Murrumbidgee Regulated River.
Supporting information
- This category includes the Murrumbidgee River from Burrinjuck Dam to Maude Weir, Tumut
River below Blowering Dam and those sections of Mirrool and other creeks used to deliver
regulated flow to irrigators.
- A WSP for the Murrumbidgee Regulated River commenced in 2004. The WSP include Environmental Water provisions and release rules for the major dams.
- Community-endorsed and locally based WQOs are already being incorporated into existing
programs and it is the role of the Catchment Management Authority to refine and target investment towards achieving WQOs over time.
- A range of existing catchment and water quality programs is making progress in achieving
WQOs throughout the catchment.
- The Murrumbidgee and District Land and Water Management Plan and the Coleambally Land
and Water Management Plan will need to deal with all community concerns over time.
- Where there are more intensive agricultural industries, the water quality in streams is
often poor. In particular, some chemical contaminants entering waterways -e.g. endosulfan
and molinate-are preventing the achievement of the objectives at times.
- Achieving drinking water objectives for these streams means that the quality of the
water drawn at point of supply must be good enough for the available level of treatment to
be effective. Towns on the major regulated rivers that extract water for drinking include
Gundagai, Wagga Wagga, Narrandera, Hay and Balranald.
- Review of flow management in the future will need to focus on:
- ensuring that inundation patterns required by wetlands and remnant floodplain ecosystems
are not adversely affected by works such as levees or drains
- improving the variability and rates of change of streamflows
- minimising the adverse effects of weirs
- minimising the adverse effects of dams on water quality, particularly water temperature
- monitoring the effects of existing rules on water quality, wetlands, the river's
channels and their ecosystems, erosion in side-streams, and the people who value or depend
on the river.
- Two of the RFOs will not generally be relevant in these streams: Mimic natural drying in temporary
waterways and Protect pools in periods of no flow. However, there may be some locations where specific actions to mimic natural drying periods are
feasible and appropriate.
- Alluvial aquifers adjoining these rivers should be managed in association with
the river. Groundwater levels may affect ecosystems. Action is needed to maintain
groundwater within levels critical to ecosystems-notably in areas where groundwater levels
have risen too high and now threaten ecosystems.
Controlled river with reduced flows (Murrumbidgee below
Maude Weir)
|
The section of the Murrumbidgee below Maude is defined as a regulated stream, but it is not used to supply much water for irrigation. Its flow is
substantially less than natural for much of the time in most years as a result of the
storage and diversions for irrigation upstream. The remaining flows tend to lack natural
patterns of variability.
Map: This river section is marked in red on the
map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
No RFOs were recommended for this river in 1999 as flow rules had been developed by the former river management committee.
In 2004, a Water Sharing Plan (WSP) commenced for the Regulated Murrumbidgee. It includes environmental water provisions that affect this section of the river. A separate WSP for the Lowbidgee district (off the main regulated river) will be developed in due course.
Supporting information
- This category applies to the Murrumbidgee River between Maude Weir and the Murray River.
- Balranald and homesteads draw water for drinking from this reach of the river.
- Organic grain production depends on high-quality water from this reach of the river.
- Upstream sources of salts, nutrients, turbidity and pesticides will need to be further
controlled to achieve WQOs.
- The Lowbidgee Management Plan covers part of this area.
- In 2004, a Water Sharing Plan (WSP) commenced for the Regulated Murrumbidgee. It includes environmental water provisions that affect this section of the river.
- A separate WSP for the Lowbidgee district (off the main regulated river) will be developed in due course.
- In this reach of the Murrumbidgee, the adopted environmental flow rules will
significantly increase the frequency of moderate flows in winter, and in spring during dry
years. Some wetlands will benefit from higher flows, but the frequency of high flows and
inundation of the river red gum forests and wetlands will still tend to be much less than
natural. The environmental flow rules will also improve flow variability.
Controlled river with reduced flows (Queanbeyan River
below Googong Dam)
|
Part of the Queanbeyan River is affected by diversions from the Googong Dam to
Queanbeyan and Canberra. Some high flows and most low to moderate flows are substantially
reduced below the dam for most of the year. Some water is released down the river for
environmental purposes.
Map: This stretch of river is marked in red on
the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- The quality of water below the dam depends largely on the quality of releases from the
dam. Water quality can be affected by the loss of diluting or flushing flows as a result
of trapping and diversion of flow, changes to water quality while it is in the dam, and
where in the dam the water is drawn from for release. The dam is likely to trap sediment
and reduce turbidity, but turbidity may then increase as a result of erosion downstream.
- Flows in the lower Queanbeyan are often substantially reduced by diversion of water from
Googong Dam to meet urban needs in Queanbeyan and Canberra. Water released from Googong
Dam, or overflowing when the dam is full, feeds Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin and an
associated wetland system, then contributes to the section of the Murrumbidgee between
Canberra and Lake Burrinjuck. Any increase in demand for water in Canberra or Queanbeyan
would decrease the frequency of freshes overflowing from the dam, and any decrease in this
demand could improve flows reaching the Murrumbidgee.
- The pattern and volume of releases from Googong Dam should be reviewed, together with
downstream environmental flow needs, to decide how the RFOs can best be met without
jeopardising supply of Queanbeyan and ACT essential water needs. Strategies for improving
the efficiency of urban water use should be pursued.
- Town water supply will not need to be augmented, but its management should be reviewed.
- An interstate process is developing arrangements for water planning in this catchment.
Controlled rivers with altered flows (regulated creeks)
|
Yanco and Colombo creeks receive controlled flows from the Murrumbidgee River. They
have been declared as regulated streams. Provision of a
continuous flow for irrigation and other purposes results in moderately high flows in
summer and autumn when flows would naturally be brief or low. In other seasons flows may
sometimes be less or more than would naturally occur. The variability of flows has been
altered.
Map: These creeks are shown as brown lines on the
map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- Water is diverted into Yanco Creek from the Murrumbidgee River to supply people along Yanco and Colombo creeks and the regulated parts of Billabong and Forest creeks. Much of
this creek system is in the Murray Catchment for which interim
objectives are outlined in guidelines in this series for the Murray River catchment (NSW).
- Plans to meet these objectives over time will require coordination across the Murray and Murrumbidgee systems and with the land and water management plans for irrigation areas,
particularly Coleambally. Plans for these creeks may need to focus on meeting the needs of:
- local people
- ecosystems of the creeks and high-flow channels, including riparian vegetation,
effective fish passage and successful breeding by native fish
- remnant native floodplain vegetation
- people and ecosystems downstream
- In planning to achieve interim objectives for these creeks it will be necessary to
consider the environmental objectives applying downstream and the needs of
downstream water users. These include drinking water for the towns of Jerilderie and
Conargo.
- Management of flows will need to
take into account any effects on licensed water users of the environmental water rules n the Murrumbidgee Water Sharing Plan, and ensure that the groups of water users accessing Murrumbidgee river water
through these creeks are not far more adversely affected by changes to flow management
than other Murrumbidgee water users.
- Monitoring is needed of the effects of existing management practices on the creeks'
channels, their ecosystems, their water quality and the people who value or depend on the
creeks.
- Flow issues to be considered for the irrigation season may include improving variability
of flows for environmental needs while continuing to meet the needs of extractive users.
In times of little or no irrigation there may be opportunities to both improve
variability, and in some years to mimic natural drying at least of stream banks,
particularly where trees or other vegetation may be adversely affected by prolonged raised
flow levels. To avoid the risk of stream bank collapse, water levels should not be reduced
rapidly. Any action to achieve partial drying should be designed to not threaten town
water supplies, other essential supplies or business enterprises.
- Alluvial aquifers adjoining the creeks will continue to be managed in association with
the creeks. Groundwater levels may affect ecosystems. Action is needed to maintain
groundwater within levels critical to ecosystems, particularly if water levels have risen
to a level that threatens natural or agricultural ecosystems.
- Minimising the adverse effects of weirs on these creeks through review of the structures
and their management is an important objective for these streams.
Artificial channels
|
This category applies to entirely artificial watercourses built to supply water for
irrigation or other purposes.
Map: Artificial channels are not shown on the
map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
No RFOs are recommended for artificial channels.
Supporting information
- Catchment Action Plans should identify human use values to protect on a case-by-case
basis for each major channel system. For irrigation supply channels, this will include
protecting water quality suitable for irrigation and whatever other uses are made of the
waters. Water quality must also meet other downstream needs and be suitable for whatever
fish or wildlife happen to use the water.
- The former DLWC and the former Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Committee have made an initial
attempt to identify priority human water uses for zones within subcatchments that may help
the river management committee define WQOs for each major channel system.
- There is no need to recommend RFOs for completely artificial watercourses. Some channels
need to be managed in ways consistent with environmental objectives or rules applying
downstream or nearby.
- DLWC has infrastructure maps showing the artificial channels in the Murrumbidgee
Irrigation Area, Coleambally and the Lowbidgee wetlands.
This page was published 1 May 2006
About the Objectives
