Mogil Mogil Weir, Barwon River above Collarenebri, late April. Photo credit Jason Wilson, CEWH. The Northern Refresh Flow delivered 8.8 GL of water for the environment from the Gwydir and Namoi catchments between mid-April and mid-May. This water flowed into the Barwon-Darling and helped to improve water quality, connect rivers and streams and allowed fish…
The northern Basin has been rapidly drying. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) arranged for large volumes of water to be released during February, this water has provided refreshing flows in the lower Balonne. One benefit of this flow has been successfully ensuring that the wetlands areas have remained wet for waterbird breeding. Among the waterbirds breeding, has been large colonies of pelicans.
Photo: Pelican colony at Narran Lake. Shot by Harro on behalf of CES, UNSW.
The environmental release from Eastern Australia Agriculture’s on-farm storages has reached Narran Lakes and is maintaining important foraging habitat for waterbirds. Inflows to the lakes will cease later this week. You can read more about the environmental release in the attached update.
What a year 2021-22 was. With lots of rainfalls, many successful waterbird breeding events and the rebuilding of face-to-face community engagements we in the Flow-MER program have had a year of many highlights.
With the end of the year fast approaching, we also have another quarter of the year done and dusted. During this quarter we have had a continued La Nina year for the third time, meaning more wet times in the Gwydir. These wet conditions mean that presently neither Commonwealth nor NSW water for the environment is being delivered in the Gwydir.
The return of the flows saw waterbirds flocking to the Gwydir Wetlands for the first large local breeding event in a decade! It is unbelievable that the last time we had a such a spectacular event was 2012.
Following a number of dry years, conditions at Mallowa Creek are looking better. Late 2021 and early 2022 have seen regular flows to which vegetation is responding well. Additional delivery of water for the environment has provided foraging habitat for waterbirds that bred in massive numbers within the Gwydir Wetlands.
The objectives of flows in the Lower Balonne are to reconnect rivers in the Lower Balonne and further downstream, inundate Narran Lakes (Dharriwaa) Ramsar site to support water bird breeding, and to help native fish to move, breed and disperse.
After a number of dry years, conditions are looking better in the Gwydir. Flows in late 2020 and early 2021 started the process of recovery, with further rainfall, flows and wetland flooding throughout 2021 and 2022. Vegetation is responding well to the flows. Delivering water for the environment during the dry times has helped native plants and animals to hang on. This also helped them to bounce back when wetter conditions returned.
