Murray-Darling Basin Authority executive director of river management Andrew Reynolds said water levels in Hume Dam are higher than usual for this time of year following widespread flooding last year.
“We have been managing releases at Hume Dam to meet demands downstream, however these demands are reducing as the irrigation season draws to a close and the water level in the dam is beginning to rise,” he said.
“We will begin generating airspace in the dam ahead of wetter months with initial releases at relatively low rates, and well within the channel capacity downstream of the dam.
“Hume Dam is currently at 91 per cent capacity and Dartmouth is at 96 per cent.
“Airspace management releases will continue at Dartmouth Dam at low rates.
“Given the relatively high storages at both Hume and Dartmouth dams heading into winter, airspace releases are important to help mitigate the risk of flooding in the weeks and months ahead.
“While the Bureau of Meteorology’s long term weather forecast paints a drier picture over winter than recent years, we want to remind those living downstream of the dams to always be flood ready.”
The MDBA works in close collaboration with BoM to ensure it has the latest information on rainfall and inflows.
This determines how to best manage the dam both in the short and long term.
Further updates will be provided in coming weeks, taking into consideration the impact of any further rainfall on forecast inflows and demands.
“The MDBA operates Hume Dam in accordance with the rules set by state governments,” Mr Reynolds said.
“That means our priority is keeping the dam safe, capturing and storing water and, where we can, mitigating floods.”
Leading up to this week’s dam releases, the Edward River has been slowly falling.
In the past week it has dropped from 1.9m to 1.71m yesterday.
When dam releases which contributed to widespread floods late last year began in September, the Edward River at Deniliquin was sitting at 5.6m.
At its peak in November last year, the river got to 9.18m.
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