Rising river alert – Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment today issued a ‘rising river alert’ for the Snowy River between Jindabyne Dam and Dalgety in southern NSW for a series of increased flow events between 19 and 29 December 2021.

The highest flows will occur on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 December.

On Tuesday 21 December, the river will have a daily flow rate of 3,540 megalitres per day over a 24 hour period. It is expected to see the river level at Dalgety reach a height of approximately 1.41m.

On Wednesday 22 December, the river will have a flow rate of 2,492 megalitres per day over a 24 hour period. The river level at Dalgety will be approximately 1.35m.

The change in the daily release pattern from Jindabyne Dam is the result of substantially higher than average rainfall over the Jindabyne area in recent months, resulting in rapid increases in storage levels which are now approaching 100%.

To help reduce the risk of spill from Jindabyne Dam, the department and Snowy Hydro Ltd have rescheduled releases for the remainder of the water year, bringing forward 10,000 megalitres of environmental flows.

The intent is to release more water now, to the extent that it is safe to do so, to replicate the current wet period when tributaries would be naturally running higher.

These releases help mitigate the risk of spill and will have positive environmental benefits for the Snowy River, as these releases, to some extent, will reflect the current conditions and the natural cues of the river ecology.

The weather conditions will continue to be monitored leading up to and during the planned high releases. The releases will be modified if required to avoid contributing to downstream flooding.

Between 19 and 30 December, the Snowy River at Dalgety can be expected to be noticeably higher, with river heights varying each day.

Further details on daily flows rates for the Snowy River at be found at: www.snowyhydro.com.au/about/reports/