Wimmera River responds to rain

The Wimmera River is getting a much-needed drink with water flowing naturally along its entirety for the first time in almost two years.

Catchment leaders confirmed the river started flowing from its source near Mt Cole about two weeks ago with up to and beyond 10 megalitres gradually heading towards Jeparit.

Wimmera Catchment Management Authority chief executive David Brennan said the flow head was likely to have reached between Dimboola and Jeparit by today.

“Some people might have noticed a discolouring of the water and changes in the river as flow has reached builtup areas,” he said.

“It’s very pleasing for the overall health of the river, considering it is coming from the upper-catchment source near Mount Cole and running right through to the lower catchment.

“In some cases water is running into areas that have been relatively still for quite a while.

“It is basically recharging the landscape, which benefits everything from the environment through vegetation and animal life, to providing confidence and enhancing liveability for communities along the river.”

Mr Brennan said the flow reflected damp conditions across much of the catchment after a long, dry autumn.

“It’s taken more than two months of above-average rain in the catchment to generate a flow in the river,” he said.

“Hopefully it keeps raining through winter and into spring so we can get a really good run of water.

“Water is flowing through weirs after what was a record dry period.

“It tells us that surrounding farmland and crops are soaked and excess water is making its way into the river system.”

Mr Brennan said while the river was subject to an environmental-flow regime, designed to provide respite for stretches of the waterway under stress, nothing compared with a natural flow.

“You can’t mimic the type of beneficial conditions we have at the moment,” he said.

“Environmental water is important but purely supplementary in trying to maintain river health.

“Natural flows, running all the way along the river, provides another level of connectivity that environmental flows can’t deliver.

“After coming off such a dry start it’s great to see. It’s great to see it’s raining and the farmland and natural environment are responding. It’s fantastic.”

Mr Brennan said the authority would continue to closely monitor catchment waterways and the impact rain would have on regional lakes and wetlands.

“Hopefully winter and spring rain will continue and we’ll see more or some water naturally running into some of our drier regional lakes,” he said.