MDBA head of River Operations David Dreverman said river managers at this time of year monitor and adjust releases from Hume Dam daily, based on weather forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology and demand from downstream entitlement holders, including irrigators and environmental water users.
"Most of the water moving through the system at the moment is meeting irrigation demand, with about 10 per cent being environmental water. With irrigation demand steady, we expect the river to remain around the levels experienced during the last couple of weeks," Mr Dreverman said.
"The Murray downstream of Hume Dam is expected to be about 13,000 megalitres per day during Easter, resulting in flow depths about 40cm below the peak recorded so far this year.
"In the reach downstream of Yarrawonga the flow rate has been largely unchanged in 2017, and will continue at around 8000 megalitres per day over Easter."
Mr Dreverman said that while flows in these reaches would be lower than those during Easter in the past couple of years, they were not expected to fall to levels experienced in 2014 when sudden and extensive rain halted orders for water by irrigators.
"The water currently being released at Torrumbarry weir is about 2800 megalitres per day, having been as low as about 2500 megalitres per day over the past week. It is expected to hold at about 3000 megalitres per day over Easter.
"Further downstream at Swan Hill, river levels have been gradually dropping towards 0.6m but are expected to rise slightly over Easter.
"We’re conscious that the Easter holiday period is an important time on the tourism calendar, so we recommend that visitors and people with boats on the river continue to keep an eye on river heights and use the river safely and responsibly regardless of the activity, whether swimming, canoeing, fishing or water skiing.
"Those wishing to do activities that require deeper water could take advantage of the weir pools on the Murray. The important thing to remember is that the river might not be the same as the last time you visited."
Mr Dreverman said releases from Hume Dam in 2017 had been relatively low due to the availability of water from downstream tributaries. Combined with a wet 2016 winter and spring, this meant Hume Dam would end the water year at about 60% capacity, compared with 20% last year, while Dartmouth had recovered to 78% from 44% last year.
For more information subscribe to the River Murray weekly report and visit livedata.mdba.gov.au
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For more information, contact the MDBA Media office at media@mdba.gov.au or 02 6279 0141
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