Regional drought update 19 November 2019

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Key customer messages

• WaterNSW is working alongside NSW Government water authorities in responding to one of the worst droughts ever experienced in .

• During the past week, New South Wales remained dry apart from negligible rainfall in the South Coast region.

• For the first part of the week, New South Wales is predicted to remain dry apart from the coastal regions which are predicted 1 – 5mm. As the week progresses, rainfall should be seen in the central to eastern parts of the state of 1 – 15mm with the higher falls predicted for the Northern Rivers Region. The rest of the state is forecast to remain dry.

• Rainfall is likely to be below average across most of New South Wales for 18 November to 1 December with the drier outlook predicted to continue into December. • Note: There has been no change in Criticality Levels anywhere since last week. • The drier outlook continues into December for NSW. The summer (December to February) outlook is far more neutral, although most of eastern Australia remains likely to be drier than average.

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Weather

During the past week, New South Wales remained dry apart from negligible rainfall in the South Coast region.

This week’s forecast: A couple of weak troughs, along with a high- pressure system, will move through eastern and southern parts of New South Wales early this week. A more dominant high will then move east across Tasmania on Tuesday and become established over the Tasman Sea by Wednesday. This blocking system will promote the build-up of heat over inland New South Wales during the second half of the week, leading to heatwave conditions for many districts.

For the first part of the week, New South Wales is predicted to remain dry apart from the coastal regions which are predicted 1 – 5mm. As the week progresses, rainfall should be seen in the central to eastern parts of the state of 1 – 15mm with the higher falls predicted for the Northern Rivers Region. The rest of the state is forecast to remain dry.

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Longer-term outlook: Issued 14 November 2019

• Drier than average forecast for the remainder of 2019,

• Rainfall is likely to be below average across most of New South Wales for 18 November to 1 December with the drier outlook predicted to continue into December.

• While outlooks for drier than average conditions may ease for some areas heading into 2020, several months of above average rainfall would be needed to see a recovery from current long-term rainfall deficiencies.

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Water Quality

Red algal alerts continue at one site around NSW regional monitoring sites within the state. This alert is being seen at: • Barwon River at Brewarrina Please visit here for more detailed information.

Incident Response Guide Criticality Level

Note : there has been no change in Criticality Level since last week.

Please visit https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water/allocations-availability/allocations/summary for more detailed information.

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Drought heat map

Please visit https://edis.dpi.nsw.gov.au for more information

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Rural Levels: 15 November 2019

Cap- River Valley Current Status Comments Allocations for 2019/20 acity

Weekly Likeli-hood % of Est change active Active of fill and spill Gen. Carry- Storage Dam, Nearest Town (GL) (GL) Supply Issues High Security cap- (GL) Security over @ acity 1/7/19

Border Rivers

3% 7 -0 C’over restricted Glenlyon Dam, Stanthorpe (Qld) 254 <20% 100% 0% <1% to 50% 4% 14 -0 C’over restricted 312 <20% 100% 0% <1% Pindari Dam, Inverell to 50%

Gwydir Valley

Copeton Dam, Inverell 1346 7% 93 -5 Deliverability <5% 100% 0% 3%

Namoi Valley

Keepit Dam, Gunnedah 419 1% 4 -0 C’over restricted <20% 75% 0% 5%

Split Rock Dam, Manilla 394 1% 5 -0 C’over restricted <5% 75% 0% 22%

Chaffey Dam, Tamworth 98 17% 17 -1 Deliverability <50% 50% 0% N/A

Macquarie Valley

4% 40 -2 C’over restricted , Wellington 1154 <20% 70% 0% 0% to 0% Windamere Dam, Mudgee 367 30% 109 -1 Regulated <5% 70% 0% 54%

Lachlan Valley

Wyangala Dam, Cowra 1216 17% 206 -7 C’over restricted <20% 87% 0% 15%

Carcoar Dam, Carcoar 36 18% 7 -0 Deliverability 10% 100% 0% 38%

Murrumbidgee Valley

Burrinjuck Dam, Yass 1025 33% 339 -1 Min Planned 40% 95% 6% 8%

Blowering Dam, Tumut 1604 53% 847 -36 Min Planned <10% 95% 6% 8%

Murray

Dartmouth, Mitta Mitta (Vic) 3837 53% 2040 -7 Transfers to N/A N/A N/A N/A

Hume Dam, Albury 2982 36% 1086 -35 Env orders and L <25% 97% 0% 18%

Lower Darling

Menindee Lakes, Broken Hill 1633 1% 10 -1 Restrictions in N/A 30% 0% 19% l Hunter Valley

Glenbawn Dam, Scone 750 44% 329 -7 Regulated 20% 100% 95% 23%

Glennies Ck Dam, Singleton 282 45% 128 -2 Regulated 20% 100% 95% 23%

Lostock Dam, Gresford 20 69% 14 -0 Regulated 100% 100% 100% N/A

Coastal Area

Toonumbar Dam, Kyogle 11 38% 4 -0 Regulated 100% 100% 100% N/A

Brogo Dam, Bega 9 53% 5 -0 Regulated 100% 100% 40% N/A

Total 17748 29.9% 5304 -105

WaterNSW has water resources in Dartmouth, Hume and Glenlyon . TWS = Town Water Supplies. 1 Gigalitre (GL) = 1,000 Megalitres (ML) 1 ML = 1,000,000 lit

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Details – Valley Overview

Storage Weekly AWD Inflows 18 November 2019 Releases GS Volume inflows Comment Required ML/d % AWD (GL) (GL) (GL) Valley Dams

Border Pindari 13.6 0 14 Releases ceased from Glenlyon. Minimum releases 0 31 Glenlyon 7.2 0 0 from Pindari.

Current releases back to minimums following releases Gwydir Copeton 93 0.0 20 from for Env water, D&S, and high 0 57 security irrigation demand.

Current releases are for Upper Namoi needs. No Namoi Split Rock 4.9 0 35 further releases from Keepit into the Lower Namoi until 0 123 Keepit 3.5 0 0 inflows occur.

Peel releases for Tamworth. Level 5 water Chaffey 16.8 0 65 0 N/A*** restriction for Tamworth.

Current releases from Burrendong Dam are for town Macquarie Burrendong 40 0 194 and D&S demand. 0 440 Windamere 110 0 92 Current release from are for Cudgegong demand.

Current releases from Dam are mainly for TWS, Irrigation and environment. Lachlan Wyangala 206 0 880 Current releases from Carcoar Dam are due to pulse 0 377 Carcoar 6.8 0 10 flow. Due to drought conditions, the end of system daily environmental flow requirement have been temporarily suspended.

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Storage Weekly AWD Inflows 18 November 2019 Releases GS Volume inflows Comment Required ML/d % AWD (GL) (GL) (GL) Valley Dams

2.1 Releases for: irrigation, planned environmental water, Murrumbidgee Burrinjuck 339 300 held environmental water to Lowbidgee and IVT 6 - Blowering 845 0* 6200 Murrumbidgee to Murray.

Murray Hume 1093 29** 9500 Transfers from Hume for summer irrigation and S.A. 0 130

Barwon- Flow has been recommenced between Beemery to Darling N/A N/A Louth due to rainfall over 2nd and 3rd November near N/A N/A Bourke area.

Four block banks have been constructed and filled, pipes closed, these are now near empty. Lower-Darling Menindee 9.9 0 Negligible 0 N/A Releases from Lake Wetherell ceased on 12 Feb 2019. Supply to Broken Hill is being met from W2BH pipeline.

* Includes inflows from Snowy Hydro, already budgeted. ** Includes inflows from Dartmouth and Snowy Hydro, already budgeted. *** The Department of Industry / Water monitors the resources regularly and the water allocation statement for the Peel regulated river is revised accordingly, depending on resource availability.

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More information

Stay up-to-date with storage levels, system risks and climate conditions across NSW. You can also find valley-specific information about storage status, predicted release patterns and operating conditions. Subscribe to have the report emailed to you each week. Please visit our website at waternsw.com.au/subscribe for more information.

For more information, visit our website at waternsw.com.au/drought or call us on 1300 662 077.

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