FRESH flows into the dry lower Darling River should bring sweet relief to the parched land below Menindee Lakes. But worries over the quantity of sour water that needs to be flushed have muted celebrations.
Residents are sweating on the sweetwater, hoping the 35,000 megalitre release from Menindee Lakes will push through all the salty, lifeless leftovers from isolated waterholes – with enough potable water to follow for residential use, stock and crops.
Nerida and Laurie Healy run two properties north of Pooncarie, Court Nareen and Wyarama, which cover a combined 35,000 hectares with 9000 Dorper ewes and lambs as well as table grapes.
“No one can remember it ever being this dry,” Mrs Healy said of the last couple of years, characterised by intermittent, insufficient flows.
The Healys are hoping they can stop carting water in for domestic use, which comes from 160 kilometres away, but with a baby due in the next few weeks Nerida will need to see the river flows are up to scratch first.
The Darling hasn’t flowed past Nareen Court or Wyarama since the Healys picked their last grape crop in December.
“It‘s good to see the water, it gives us hope we can get through another season,” she said.
“At least we can keep vines alive and produce a portion of the crop.
“But it’s a very nervous happiness as we wait to see if the water quality will improve.”
Denis Miller of Whurlie Station, 70 kilometres north of Pooncarie, said the dry river had removed producers’ natural fenceline, which adds much time and effort and had also cut-off up to a third of productive land for some properties, because stock have to be removed from riverside paddocks.
“The river is our eastern boundary, and it’s almost impossible to fence it. When it floods it can wipe it all out.”
Along with a growing number of his neighbours, Mr Miller produces organic prime lamb.
He estimated he’s spent $100,000 on bores and pipes to cope with the dry river over the past 18 months.
Like Nerida Healy, and many others on the Lower Darling and in Broken Hill and Menindee, Mr Miller is worried their interests are being overlooked.
“There seems to be an element in government that’s hell-bent on sacrificing this side of river, from Bourke down, for the cotton growers above.”
Hopes ride on wet winter
NSW Department of Primary Industries says its top priority for the Lower Darling is to maintain continuous flow for as long as possible.
If rainfall across the catchment permits, the department would extend the regulated flow down the Lower Darling to the end of the year.
Outflow from Menindee Lakes, which is currently at 10-per-cent capacity, began at a high of 1.5 gigalitres a day and fell quickly to 150 megalitres for the remainder of the 35GL total release.
Farmers on the Lower Darling, who have battled nearly two years without substantial flow, are concerned the scheduled release won’t be enough to flush the poor quality, remnant water that lurks along the river.
A spokesman for the department said the current release of fresh water from Menindee Lakes “is sufficient to meet all essential requirements including towns, domestic, stock and irrigation for permanent plantings only. Irrigation for other purposes remains prohibited until reserves improve further”.
He said there is a “small volume of poor quality water in remnant pools”, which would be refreshed when the fresh flows pass by.
The department said it would continue to monitor water quality and arrange flow and weir-pool adjustment to improve mixing if necessary.
Happily, higher flows could also be on the cards down the track, the department predicted.
“Additional inflows into the Barwon-Darling river system have been received since initial forecasts were made,” the spokesman said.
“It is highly likely that more rainfall will occur in the upper catchments in coming months, providing even more inflows and assisting with the recovery of the Menindee Lakes and Lower Darling River.”