This year the Snowy River environmental allocation is only 4% annual natural flow (ANF) below Jindabyne Dam. The legislated target for 2009 is 15%.

Last week the Snowy Scientific Committee released its second report, Recommendations for releases to the Snowy River 2009/10, which identified that the Snowy River will receive only 4% ANF this water year. This is less than the target for the first year after corporatisation of Snowy Hydro in 2002. The Snowy Scientific Committee’s release recommendations have been severely constrained by the extremely low environmental allocation made to the Snowy by the NSW Department of Water and Energy (DWE). It would appear that DWE has completely ignored the findings of the Scientific Committee’s previous report, completed in October 2008.

That report identified that none of the intended ecological objectives of the Snowy legislation have been met so far, due to continued low flows. The NSW Government has used the drought as an excuse to cover up its complete lack of commitment to delivering environmental flows to the Snowy. The drought is actually only part of the story. After all, if the Snowy River had received a full allocation on its entitlement this year it would have received less than 9% ANF and there is still around 5% to be repaid to the Mowamba Borrowings Account. An immediate increase in flows could be delivered by suspending repayment of the Mowamba Borrowings Account. The Mowamba Borrowings Account is water that flowed down the Mowamba River, when Mowamba Aquedcut was turned off between 28th August 2002 and 31 Jan 2006, to return the first environmental flows to the Snowy River. This water has to be repaid to Snowy Hydro Ltd from the Snowy River annual environmental allocation. Yet the NSW Government has made hundreds of gigalitres of forward borrows available to irrigators from Snowy Scheme storages since corporatisation, of which 429 gigalitres are still outstanding and irrigators have six years repay the amount.

The Mowamba Borrowings Account must be waived and no future debts incurred. There is no justification in requiring payback of the Mowamba Borrrowings Account when Snowy River Increased Flows are so far behind schedule. Secondly, water savings acquired by Water for Rivers must be transferred to the Environmental Register without delay and ALL environmental entitlements on the Register as of February of any year (i.e. when the Snowy Annual Water Operations Plan is drafted) should be available for release under that Annual Water Operations Plan. At present Snowy River environmental entitlements can sit on the Register for up to two years before they are released down the river! Since 2002 $425 million has been jointly committed by Victoria, NSW and the Commonwealth to Water for Rivers to obtain the necessary water savings to off-set Snowy River Increased Flows. However a number of Water for Rivers’ projects and purchases are general security entitlements, which rarely return any water to the Snowy. Taxpayers’ money is being spent on air and not on putting real water in the river. Water for Rivers must receive a major increase in funding to ensure that the legislated target of 21% ANF to the Snowy and 70GL to the Murray by 2012 is actually delivered. On current funding the final outcome in 2012 will be less than 15% ANF for the Snowy and very little for the Murray or the Snowy montane rivers.

The Snowy Scientific Committee’s Recommendations for 2009/10 Environmental Releases from Jindabyne Dam specifically excludes discussion of environmental releases being delivered via Mowamba weir. This is despite the fact that their first report identified that the Mowamba River had contributed an invaluable environmental benefit to the Snowy River during the period the Aqueduct was turned off and the Mowamba River acted as a surrogate natural headwaters for the Snowy It is evident the NSW Government continues to stonewall over the Five Year Review of the Snowy Water Licence, now more than 18 months overdue, and refuses to negotiate with the two other shareholder governments over permitting environmental releases to be made via Mowamba weir as well as Jindabyne Dam.

The Scientific Committee report made no recommendations on releases to Snowy montane rivers despite the legislation requiring releases to be made not only from the Murrumbidgee but also the Gungarlin, the Goodgradigbee, and the upper Snowy River/Perisher/Rams Flat. The Scientific Committee could make no recommendations on the montane rivers because no monitoring has been undertaken by the Snowy Benchmarking and Monitoring Program of those rivers due to lack of funding. The Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam has now received less than 5% ANF for the past forty years! The upper Snowy River above the dam has suffered similarly.

The NSW Government has failed to deliver on the Snowy River. What are Victoria and the Commonwealth as co-signatories of the Snowy legislation going to do to redress the situation?

Snowy Scientific Committee report on Snowy River flows is damming!

The first Snowy Scientific Committee report is a damning indictment of the progress on environmental releases to the Snowy River and provides scientific grounds for decommissioning the Mowamba Aqueduct.
Read the full media release...

Snowy Scientific Committee Report News Release

Media Contacts:

John Gallard Chair, Snowy River Alliance Ph: 02 6456 2159 Email: quartzcrystal@bigpond.com

Louise Crisp Vice-chair, Snowy River Alliance Ph: 0418 516 373 Email: lcrisp@bigpond.com

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