WaterNSW spokesman Tony Webber said about 500 gigalitres had made its way down the Darling River and into the Menindee Lakes system in recent months, with “another 600-700gL in transit”.
“It’s a phenomenal turn around as the situation was dire prior to winter,” he said.
“We’ve seen record rain in inland NSW and that has driven those feeder systems, plus water has come down from central Qld.”
The enabled the gates to be opened at Lake Menindee last week, he said.
“Once Lake Pamamaroo was at capacity, further up the Menindee system, we needed to start putting water into the next lake which was Lake Menindee,” he said.
Mr Webber said the eventual plan was to put water into Lake Cawndilla and Lake Tandou – the final lakes in the system.
“Water finds its way to Cawndilla as a result of going to Lake Menindee through the creek channels, so it will receive some water in the next fortnight, and we’ll evaluate how much water is coming down the system,” he said.
The volume of water should provide Broken Hill with a town water supply until at least mid-2018. Work on the short-term water security borefield, constructed by WaterNSW at the height of the dry, has ceased and the bores since have been capped.
