Water still pooling at Hindmarsh
Aformlake within a lake continues to at Lake Hindmarsh at Jeparit as water from a sodden catchment makes its way down the Wimmera River.
More than 10 gigalitres, or 10,000-million litres, have passed Jeparit weir into the first of the region’s two great terminal lakes, which when full holds 430 gigalitres.
The amount of water in the lake is the equivalent to combined full Green and Dock lakes near Horsham.
Wimmera Catchment Management Authority, constantly monitoring the river, recorded the figures late last week.
Authority chief executive David Brennan said almost 500 megalitres a day continued to flow in the river through Horsham, while upper-catchment areas had eased to 150 to 200 megalitres a day.
“There are still more flows coming through the system and putting some water into Lake Hindmarsh,” he said.
“Such is the expanse of Lake Hindmarsh that the water appears like a large pond and of course we’re unsure how long the flows will last.”
During the rare occurrence when Lake Hindmarsh fills, water spills into Outlet Creek and runs into Ross Lakes and ultimately Lake Albacutya near Rainbow.
Despite watering Lake Albacutya being a primary incentive to generate water savings through Wimmera-mallee Pipeline construction, it has been several decades since water reached Albacutya.
In the past 20 years there have been 60 percent less inflows into Wimmera headworks reservoirs than the long-term average and a 2011 Wimmera River flood, despite being one of the largest on record, filled only two-thirds of Lake Hindmarsh.
Mr Brennan said while weather forecasts showed little extensive rain on the immediate horizon, the hope was that intermittent showers kept the system damp.
“It would be then still primed for the next band of rain as we approach spring, which is often, based on long-term averages, when the best in-flows in the catchment occur,” he said.
“We’ve had some water go into Green Lake near Horsham and even a small amount sneaking in the mouth of Natimuk Lake. Hopefully we can get some more inflows into our high-profile lakes.”