Water flows to improve quality

Maintaining good water quality is essential to human health, the environment, agriculture and recreation. Understanding the factors that influence water quality is an important part of effective water management.

Some of the water quality issues we experience in our catchment and what impact they have include:

Bushfires	Sediment and pollution risk
Groundwater intrusion	High saline water enters waterways
Blackwater event	Low dissolved oxygen that can lead to fish deaths
Blue green algae	Blooms can occur in still or slow flowing water and pose a risk to humans and the environment

‘Freshes’ in the dry

During hot weather and dry conditions, modest pulses of water-for-environment called ‘freshes’ are used to maintain and improve water quality.

When possible, the timing of releases of water for the environment can be adjusted to align with recreational events or activities.

Autumn flow update

• A planned fresh for the Wimmera River has been postponed due to poor water quality in water storages. Wimmera CMA is monitoring conditions and will commence flows if conditions improve.
• Flows are reduced in the upper MacKenzie River and Burnt Creek due to dry conditions, with available water targeting healthy drought refuge pools.