The Murray-Darling Basin Authority released the October update to the Annual Operating Outlook providing confidence that near full storages can help meet demand for the remainder of the water year.
The update shows how the system has tracked in response to rainfall between June and October, compared to the original AOO (published August 2023).
On December 6, active storage was near full, at 7627 gigalitres, and unregulated flows have largely met the system demands to date.
Menindee Lakes is available to assist in meeting Murray River demands.
The outlook is published to provide river users a range of possible scenarios, so they can plan their activities for the remainder of the season.
The authority has been managing unregulated inflows into Dartmouth, Eildon and Hume dams over spring, balancing the need to maintain air space and the risk of raising river levels too high.
Inflows from the Goulburn River to the Murray, as measured at McCoys Bridge, remained above 20 Gl/day during July 2023, bolstering unregulated flows in the Murray River.
As inflows receded in August, delivery of water for the environment supported elevated baseflows and environmental freshes delivered in late August and late September, respectively.
Early October rainfall again increased unregulated inflows from the Goulburn River.
The total inflow to the Murray River from the Goulburn River, at McCoys Bridge, between June and October, was about 1760 Gl.
Of this, 151 Gl of water for the environment was delivered to South Australia.
Looking forward, despite an active El Niño and drying climate drivers, the Bureau of Meteorology outlook favours average rainfall over summer.
Temperatures are likely to be warmer than average. This may increase the risk of a delivery shortfall during hot summer months.
MDBA river management executive director Andrew Reynolds said that while we had entered summer with near full storages, it was important for water agencies to be prepared for every possible scenario — including a potential shortfall.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek believes another drought is just around the corner and the government must get vital water back into the rivers and onto the floodplains.
“I have made it clear from the start that I am determined to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan,’’ Ms Plibersek said
“This is a critical time for our environment — I don’t want communities to wake up one day with a dry river and know their governments could have done more.”
