Environmental water flows down The Darling

Environmental water in the Darling River passing Bourke. Photo: TWH.

For the first time, environmental water has flowed through a 2000-kilometre network of rivers in the northern Murray–Darling Basin, passing Brewarrina and Bourke in the Darling River and reaching the Menindee Lakes near Broken Hill. Twenty three gigalitres of water was released from April to late June — the equivalent of ten Olympic swimming pools — and the movement of the water was tracked by satellite imagery

Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) head of compliance Russell James and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH), Jody Swirepik, said the successful flow of water for the environment to the Menindee Lakes shows how the Murray–Darling Basin Plan can reconnect the northern rivers to benefit both the environment and local communities. Read more in the printed edition of the Western Herald.