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.
Following high rainfall over the weekend, Jindabyne Dam reached full supply level and commenced spilling in the early hours of Monday 20 December 2021.
There is a potential that Jindabyne Dam could continue to spill without with any further rainfall. As of Tuesday 21 December the dam was at 100% active storage.
There has been considerable rainfall in the Jindabyne area and inflows for this water year are wetter than average.
To prevent a further spill, the department and Snowy Hydro Ltd have again rescheduled releases for the remainder of the water year, bringing forward an additional 11,000 megalitres (ML).
The revised flows as previously notified to occur between 19 and 29 December 2021, will now include four additional peaks over 2,000 ML/day.
The highest flows will occur between Wednesday 22 and Saturday 25 December.
On Wednesday 22 December, the river will have a daily flow rate of 4,092 megalitres per day over a 24 hour period. Resulting in a highest peak of 1.45m at Dalgety Weir.
On Thursday 23 December, the river will have a daily flow rate of 5,000 megalitres per day over a 24 hour period. Resulting in a highest peak of 1.51m at Dalgety Weir.
On Friday 24 December, the river will have a daily flow rate of 4,866 megalitres per day over a 24 hour period. Resulting in a highest peak of 1.50m at Dalgety Weir.
On Saturday 25 December, the river will have a daily flow rate of 2,387 megalitres per day over a 24 hour period. Resulting in a highest peak of 1.50m at Dalgety Weir.
The Snowy River at Dalgety will be noticeably high between 22 December and 30 December - these heights will vary each day.
Not only will these releases help mitigate the risk of spill, they will have many positive environmental benefits for the Snowy River.
These releases to some extent, would reflect the current conditions and the natural cues of the river ecology.
The weather conditions will continue to be monitored with the planned high releases. Further rainfall may require changes to the planned daily flows.
Further details on daily flows rates for the Snowy River at be found at: www.snowyhydro.com.au/about/reports/