Water to divert around Murray River’s giant sand slug

The sand slug moving through a part of the river system known as the Barmah Choke, has slowly started flowing into the Barmah-Millewa forest on the New South Wales-Victorian border, slowing the flow of water.

The slug, estimated to be made up of more than 20 million cubic metres of sand and sediment, is the result of more than a century of land-clearing and gold mining upstream of the Barmah Choke.

Under the new arrangement, Water NSW and Murray Irrigation will use their network of channels to help the Murray-Darling Basin Authority by moving water around the Barmah Choke for the 2024-25 “water year”, helping to “protect the river environment and community values”.

“Renewal of this arrangement and building a close working relationship with MIL is an important first step for the MDBA in partnership with the joint governments to explore the options to address channel capacity identified in the Barmah-Millewa Feasibility Study,” MDBA river modernisation senior director Joe Davis said.

“Other options [to restore water flow through the Barmah Choke] will take time, and we are progressing work with First Nations, basin states and local communities on environmental impact assessments to fully understand the possible impacts of each of those actions.”

The authority’s long-term aim is to maintain and, where possible, reinstate downstream flows through the Barmah Choke.

Davis said the choke was a “known constraint” with no silver bullet to fix the problem.

The forest that the sand slug is moving into is an internationally recognised environmental site, and a culturally significant place for First Nations people, Davis said.

“The river in this section of the basin is the boundary for New South Wales and Victoria,” he said. 

“It forms the essential artery supplying water further south to South Australia. Enhancing water delivery and improving flows through the choke will take sustained effort and collaboration on a range of fronts.”