Wimmera Catchment Management Authority has announced that environmental water will start running down Burnt Creek near Horsham on Friday, October 22.

About 160 megalitres of environmental water earmarked for the Wimmera River, instead of flowing from Taylors Lake, will flow to the river via the creek. The flow will run at 20 megalitres a day and finish at the end of next week. After discussions with Burnt Creek residents on Wednesday, Wimmera CMA and GWMWater representatives met on the issue. They agreed that a near-full Taylors Lake provided an opportunity to make Wimmera environmental water harvesting and delivery adjustments that complied with Wimmera CMA’s Wimmera River objectives.

Wimmera CMA chief executive Mr Thompson said: “This is an alternative mechanism for delivering 160 megalitres to the Wimmera River and is only possible because Taylors Lake is holding an adequate amount of water. This provides a degree of flexibility in water management.”

The water running into Burnt Creek is part of the Wimmera River’s 4595-megalitre environmental release.

Mr Thompson said the outcome showed how government and the community could work together to increase the overall positive impact of environmental water releases. “The drought has rammed home the fact that water is a finite resource and the region is still very limited in what supplies are available to enhance river health,” he said. “Wimmera CMA commends members of the community for showing such passionate support for their waterway. We also thank GWMWater for its efforts in finding a workable solution.”

Mr Thompson said the key criteria for environmental water-release planning were to:

• Protect existing high-value areas, or areas in good condition.
• Restore areas where the highest environmental benefit will be achieved for the resource invested and there is strong community commitment towards long-term improvement in waterway health.

“Based on the current condition of Burnt Creek, other waterways are of higher priority.  In addition to needing a flow, Burnt Creek suffers from other pressing problems such as degraded stream banks and vegetation due to stock access and high levels of water extraction.  These activities severely impact on the ecological values of the creek. Unless these problems are addressed, Burnt Creek will continue to be of lower priority to receive flows when water is scarce.  The reason water is flowing now is because we can use the creek as a means for transferring water to the Wimmera River.”

Mr Thompson said Wimmera CMA would continue to work with landowners to protect and enhance the environmental values of Burnt Creek health. Mr Thompson also urged people with pumps installed on Burnt Creek to show restraint and allow the flow to reach the Wimmera River.