Partnering with Aboriginal peoples
Water for Country is environmental water use planned by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and Aboriginal people to achieve shared benefits for the environment and cultural places, values and/or interests.
In 2025–26, we will partner with Aboriginal peoples and organisations in the Murrumbidgee catchment. This includes:
- collaborating with Murrumbidgee Nations supporting flows that enhance fish breeding and movement across Country, strengthening cultural connection to waterways and sustaining traditional knowledge, practices and responsibilities for caring for Country
- working with the Nari Nari community to achieve environmental and cultural outcomes with water for the environment in the Gayini and Toogimbie wetland systems
- supporting the Wiradjuri Nation’s land and water aspirations and opportunities for co-management of Murrumbidgee environmental and cultural water assets, enabling cultural access licence use alongside environmental flows, and helping facilitate the ongoing use of and partner with cultural access licence deliveries where needed
- advancing the land and water management aspirations of Mutthi Mutthi peoples to achieve healthy Country outcomes, with a long-term vision for co-management of environmental and cultural water assets in the Lowbidgee
- incorporating Water for Country content in the Murrumbidgee Long-Term Water Plan
- continuing to strengthen Aboriginal peoples’ role in monitoring on-Country outcomes on the Flow-Mer 2.0 long-term monitoring program with Charles Sturt University.
Key planned actions
Water use will be focussed primarily on instream actions, and flows will be delivered at below bankfull flow rates, because of flood repair maintenance and the need to keep construction sites dry for the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism Project.
Native fish
Up to 200 gigalitres has been prioritised to maintain instream and deep water off-stream habitats for native fish and to restore a more natural flow pattern to support native fish populations.
Water managers will undertake opportunistic fish pulses or dispersal flows in the Murrumbidgee to allow young native fish and larvae to enter low-lying floodplain habitat areas, including Tala and Yanga lakes. Similar flow events will be provided in the Yanco–Billabong system when conditions are suitable.
Contingency water will be set aside to provide refuge habitat for native fish when there is a risk of low flows and heat waves lending towards hypoxia in the lower Murrumbidgee and mid-to-lower Yanco–Billabong systems.
Waterbirds
Planned flows of up to 200 gigalitres will provide foraging and breeding habitat for waterbirds, as well as turtles, frogs and other aquatic species in areas including Gayini, Western Lakes and the North Redbank wetlands. Flows will also provide water to key Australasian bittern habitat in the Murrumbidgee and Coleambally irrigation areas.
Vegetation
We will provide up to 10 gigalitres of water for the environment via pumping to key mid- and lower-Murrumbidgee sites currently out of reach of river flows. This will include Willbriggie, Yarradda and Sunshower lagoons in the mid-Murrumbidgee, and Waldaira and Mainie swamps in the Junction Wetland system west of Balranald.
Connectivity
Flows are planned to Monken, Pee Vee and Talpee Creeks via the Gayini wetland system and potentially heading south via Tala Lake, which is part of Yanga National Park. This assumes reasonable starting water allocations. River connectivity will be achieved by opening the Tala escape and Yanga Creek regulator during one or more native fish pulses.
Proposed annual priority targets in the Murrumbidgee water resource plan area
For more information, go to our Annual environmental watering priorities 2025–26 webpage, which includes each catchment’s resource availability scenario and expected volumes of environmental water available.
