September flood damage would have been “much worse” if not for the management of Burrendong Dam by WaterNSW, reports Macquarie River Food and Fibre (MRFF) chairman Michael Egan.
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He said the dam received record inflows of 940,000 megalitres in September, equivalent to 80 per cent of its storage capacity and almost double the amount of water held in Sydney Harbour.
“Considering that the dam reached 100 per cent capacity in early September and then went on to receive record inflows in the same month, WaterNSW have done a good job minimising flood impacts under difficult circumstances,” Mr Egan said.
“We have seen a range of issues as a result of flooding, including crop losses and road closures, but the impacts would have been much worse if the dam releases weren’t managed appropriately.”
Mr Egan said WaterNSW had managed dam releases and communicated closely with the Macquarie Flood Zone Mitigation Reference Panel (FZMRP), which comprises representatives from WaterNSW, councils and residents from all of the affected river sections.
“WaterNSW has done a great job of managing releases from the dam in recent weeks and communicating with the local flood reference panel to understand the impact of dam releases on different sections of the river” Mr Egan said.
Burrendong Dam reached a high of 136 per cent capacity, representing about 1,620,000 megalitres, on September 23 after sitting at 11 per cent four at the beginning of June.
Mr Egan welcomed a drier start to October.
“Thankfully the rain has eased off since the beginning of October which has allowed WaterNSW to regain some airspace and farmers to get into their paddocks for the first time in a long time,” he said.
Burrendong Dam is one of the largest inland dams in NSW with a capacity of 1,678,000 megalitres, including 1,188,000 megalitres of water storage and a potential 490,000 megalitres of air space for flood mitigation.