Combined storage at Australia's Menindee Lakes has dropped below 480 gigalitres for the first time since 2021, triggering temporary restrictions and warnings of summer fish deaths, The Guardian reports.
Water levels at the Menindee Lakes in western New South Wales have fallen to their lowest point in five years, The Guardian reports. Combined storage dropped below 480 gigalitres earlier this month for the first time since 2021, and volumes in the upper lakes fell below 250 gigalitres, a level that triggers temporary state water restrictions across parts of the northern Murray-Darling basin. The restrictions limit access for some irrigators and are intended to preserve water for critical human needs and the environment, following low rainfall in the catchment over the past 12 months.
Experts warn the situation raises the risk of fish kills this summer unless flows down the Darling-Baaka River improve. Menindee was the site of catastrophic fish kills in 2018, 2019 and 2023 that left millions of dead fish along stretches of the river. Prof Jamie Pittock of the Australian National University and the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists said government officials are predicting with a level of certainty that fish kills will occur unless more water flows into the river, and called for a major rain event and for state governments to stop irrigators pumping out the first flush. Local resident Graeme McCrabb said small inflows from Queensland offered some hope, but that without more water the risk would be very high in January or February, though a milder summer would lower it.
The report also notes that an expert panel set up under the northern basin connectivity program after the 2023 state election recommended limiting upstream overextraction during dry periods, and delivered its final report two years ago, but the state government has yet to implement it. McCrabb said agencies had made no policy changes to improve water quality outcomes since the fish kills. The Guardian said it had sought comment from NSW water minister Rose Jackson. The account here rests on that single report, and conditions could change if significant inflows arrive.
