Murrumbidgee catchment

• Overview
• Latest water use
• Portfolio & Planning
• Monitoring
• History

The Murrumbidgee River contains diverse and rich natural environments. Its waterways are a source of water supply for domestic use, extensive irrigated agriculture production, tourism, recreational activities, and the cultural values and practices of local Aboriginal Traditional Owners.

The Murrumbidgee region is home to the vast and nationally significant Lower Murrumbidgee River (Lowbidgee) Floodplain and the mid-Murrumbidgee River Wetlands. The Lowbidgee floodplain covers about 200,000 hectares and includes some of the largest lignum wetlands in New South Wales. It is an important bird breeding site, particularly for the royal spoonbill, great egret, straw-necked ibis, Australian white ibis and glossy ibis.

The Lower Murrumbidgee floodplain also contains the Gayini Nimmie-Caira project area, consisting of over 80,000 hectares of land that support a range of wetland-dependent species, including threatened species such as the Australian painted snipe, southern bell frog and the Australasian bittern. The Gayini Nimmie-Caira Enhanced Environmental Water Delivery project (the Gayini Nimmie-Caira Project) was established to protect, maintain and enhance the Nimmie-Caira environment, relax constraints to water delivery and help “bridge the gap” to Sustainable Diversion Limits in the Murrumbidgee. Following the 2013 purchase of Gayini Nimmie-Caira lands (with funding provided by the Commonwealth to NSW under a Heads of Agreement) in 2018 the NSW Government, through an open tender process, selected The Nature Conservancy in a partnership with Aboriginal and scientific groups to manage the Gayini Nimmie-Caira project area, which will provide:

• ongoing environmental and indigenous cultural heritage protection;
• indigenous engagement and participation; and
• sustainable land use.

The Gayini Nimmie-Caira project was completed in 2019 on time and under budget. More information on the Gayini Nimmie-Caira project can be found at: The Nimmie-Caira Project.

The mid-Murrumbidgee River Wetlands are nationally significant, and support river red gum forests and blackbox woodlands that provide habitat to threatened species, again including the southern bell frog and the Australasian bittern.

The Murrumbidgee region is also home to the internationally significant Ginini Flats wetlands in the upper catchment, and the Ramsar listed Fivebough and Tuckerbil Swamps within the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

Delivery of environmental water to date (as of November 2021)

Since 2009, Commonwealth environmental water has been delivered to sites across the Murrumbidgee catchment targeting both in-stream and wetland habitats to support their recovery or maintain their health.
Some of the significant contributions Commonwealth environmental deliveries have made to date, include:

• maintaining critical refuge habitats for water dependent animals including waterbirds, native fish, birds, frogs and turtles. This includes protecting listed threatened animals from further decline or possible local extinctions;
• re-establishing the threatened southern bell frog populations in the mid-Murrumbidgee (locally extinct for 40 years) and at Yanga National Park (not detected between 2013 and 2017);
• re-establishing important native wetland plant communities in the mid-Murrumbidgee that had been lost from wetlands;
• supporting successful breeding outcomes and maintaining important habitat for over 30 waterbird species;
• restoring the natural watering frequency of wetland sites in the mid-Murrumbidgee, Lowbidgee floodplain and Junction Wetlands to support their recovery; and maintain and/or improve their ecological condition;
• maintaining the ecological character of internationally listed Ramsar wetlands, Fivebough and Tuckerbil, and supporting the waterbirds that depend on them;
• supporting the spawning and growth of eight native fish species into local populations;
• reducing the impact on native fish and other water dependent animals from very poor water quality (lethally low dissolved oxygen concentrations) in response to natural flooding in 2016;
• avoiding further fish deaths in Lowbidgee weir pools caused by very poor water quality that developed in response to low flows in the river and high temperatures associated with drought in 2019.
• Triggering and supporting over 20 different waterbird breeding events across the valley including a breeding event of more than 18,000 pairs of straw-necked and glossy ibis in the Lowbidgee. Other species that also successfully bred included egrets, spoonbills, herons, cormorants, darters, swans, threatened blue-billed and freckled ducks, brolgas and Australasian and little bitterns.
• Successfully recovering the threatened southern bell frog population in the Lowbidgee to pre-Millennium drought numbers after the population came close to becoming locally extinct during the drought.
• Supporting the spawning and recruitment of golden perch on the Yanga National Park floodplain and providing flows to assist fish passage between the Murrumbidgee and Murray.

The Murrumbidgee Valley experienced dry conditions from early 2017 up until a transition to wetter conditions from early 2020..  With the prospect of continued wet conditions and high-water resource availability in 2021-22, the primary focus for use of Commonwealth water for the environment is to maintain, and where possible improve the health and resilience of aquatic ecosystems. This will be achieved by targeting in-channel fish movement; facilitating connection between the floodplain and river channel for fish and nutrient dispersal and larger scale wetland and floodplain inundation to improve habitat condition.

What has environmental water achieved in the Murrumbidgee?

Scientific monitoring shows environmental water delivered to the Murrumbidgee is providing food, habitat and breeding opportunities for many of the region’s native fish, frogs, waterbirds, plants and other wildlife.

A summary of preliminary results for 2020-21 are below with full monitoring reports available each year.

2020-21

Delivery of Commonwealth and NSW water for the environment successfully:

• triggered and supported breeding of over 15,000 straw-necked and 3000 glossy ibis nesting pairs, including smaller numbers of many other species, at Eulimbah Swamp in Gayini Nimmie-Caira. This very large colony was established and supported solely by water for the environment
• supported over 20 waterbird breeding events across the catchment, 18 in the Lowbidgee’ two in the mid-Murrumbidgee and one at Wanganella Swamp; with breeding of numerous species including threatened Australasian and little bitterns, egrets, spoonbills, herons, cormorants, darters, threatened blue-billed and freckled ducks, and brolgas
• supported six species of frogs (barking and spotted marsh frogs, Peron’s tree frog, plains froglet, inland banjo frog and the threatened southern bell frog); with successive years of delivering water for the environment supporting the return of threatened southern bell frog populations in the Lowbidgee to pre-Millennium Drought numbers
• supported golden perch spawning and recruitment in the deep creek systems on the Yanga National Park floodplain and provided fish passage between barriers (weirs) in the Lowbidgee and between the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers. The flow also provided lateral connection to floodplain creeks and lakes in Yanga National Park, enabling native fish to move between the river and floodplain creeks and lakes, as well as providing a critical exchange of carbon and nutrients
• led to the discovery, and supported, a small population of unspeckled hardy-head at Coonancoocabil Lagoon in the mid-Murrumbidgee: this species is very rare in the Murrumbidgee
• supported populations of a range of native fish including carp gudgeon, Australian smelt, flathead gudgeon, bony-bream, rainbow fish, Murray cod and golden perch
• supported an increased abundance of deep-water tolerant aquatic plant species such as common and red watermilfoil, common spike rush and floating pondweed in the Lowbidgee. Also promoted the emergence of new lignum, common spike rush, water primrose, starworts, and mud flat colonising species such as old man weed and lesser joyweed. Black-box trees that had been in poor health at Avalon Swamp in Gayini-Nimmie-Caira responded well to environmental watering which triggered their flowering along with establishing areas of nardoo, azolla, water primrose and swamp lily
• supported all three Murrumbidgee turtle species (broad shelled, eastern long-necked and Macquarie River turtles).

Details of previous Commonwealth environmental use in the Murrumbidgee River Valley are available at: History - Murrumbidgee.

Our partners

Commonwealth environmental water use is planned, delivered and managed in partnership with a number of individuals and organisations in the Murrumbidgee River region including:

• New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (including National Parks and Wildlife Service) – Biodiversity and Conservation
• New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment – Water
• WaterNSW
• New South Wales Department of Primary Industries – Fisheries
• Riverina Local Land Services
• Charles Sturt University
• Murrumbidgee Environmental Water Advisory Group
• Local landholders and community members
• Murray-Darling Basin Authority
• Nari Nari Tribal Council

Videos

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The following videos were produced by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage

 

 

The following video was produced by the NSW Planning, Industry and Environment