I would like to clear up some misconceptions about the NSW Reconnecting River Country Program that appeared in a recent story in your newspaper.
Firstly, the NSW Government has no plans to compulsorily acquire thousands of flow easements along the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers as part of the NSW Reconnecting River Country Program.
The program is focused on improving the health and connectivity of the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers to protect environmentally important rivers, floodplains and wetlands that are at risk of destruction due to a changing climate, river regulation and extraction.
We are currently developing the program in the Murrumbidgee first and are proposing three flow options between 32,000 and 40,000 megalitres per day at Wagga Wagga. It’s important to note that flows of this size occur regularly and naturally and are significantly lower than the floods of 2010 and 2022, which reached up to 150,000ML per day at Wagga Wagga.
The environmental flows we are proposing would occur about three to five times per decade on average and would peak for three to five days in the Murrumbidgee and seven to 21 days in the Murray before the water returns to normal levels. This is consistent with the duration of similar-sized flows that already occur from time to time.
Most flow releases would typically occur from August to October, with increases in river flows occurring slightly later in downstream areas as water moves through the system. Outside these limited environmental flows, it’s business as usual for farmers.
It is also important to clarify that a flood easement simply gives the NSW Government the right to enable environmental flows to move across private land. We are not seeking to buy or own private land through the Reconnecting River Country Program. The easements would not give anyone the right to access this land.
The easements simply enable flows to travel along the river for a few days, three to five times per decade, to connect with wetlands and floodplains, ensuring they continue to exist and thrive and supporting our native vegetation and fish communities.
Farmers would continue to own and operate their properties as they always have.
We have conducted extensive investigations and technical studies that weigh the environmental benefits and risks of different flow options across the region, as well as potential impacts on infrastructure.
This includes potential mitigation measures, which would involve investing in upgrading or building new infrastructure on public and private land to manage changes to environmental flows, along with compensating landholders for flood easements on their properties.
At this stage, no decisions have been made. These options will be carefully considered by the NSW and Australian governments when they review the Murrumbidgee Reconnecting River Country Final Business Case in early 2025.
Lisa Hingerty,
Executive Director of Infrastructure Development at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water