THE Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has increased the amount of water released from Hume Dam to 17 gigalitres per day to manage inflows from Upper Murray catchments.
The Hume Dam is effectively full, at 99 per cent capacity.
MDBA acting chief executive officer Andrew Reynolds said 27mm of rain fell over the dam in a short period earlier this week, reducing airspace to 20GL, “prompting our operators to increase releases to create airspace yesterday morning”.
“We anticipate flows downstream of Hume Dam will remain within the river channel, however if rain and run-off are higher than expected, we may need to increase the release of water in the days ahead,” Mr Reynolds said.
“The situation is quite dynamic, and our river operators are working round the clock and in close consultation with the Bureau of Meteorology and WaterNSW to manage releases from Hume Dam.
“The Bureau is forecasting moderate rainfall for the rest of the week, with likely falls in the range of 10 to 25mm, although this can vary widely across the ranges and localised heavier falls are possible.”
Mr Reynolds said MDBA’s priority was to keep the dam safe, capturing and storing water and, where possible, mitigating floods.
“With higher flows now in transit from Hume Dam and entering the Murray River from the Kiewa and Ovens rivers, low-level over-bank flows through the Barmah-Millewa Forest are expected to occur in coming days,” he said.
“The way we release water from Hume Dam is also considering water quality, with blue-green algae currently affecting the dam and low dissolved oxygen levels present immediately downstream.
“To help manage low dissolved oxygen, we are releasing some water through the valves. This creates a spray which injects oxygen into the water as it enters the river.”
