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Reflections – Environmental Watering in Victoria 2014-15

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Reflections – Environmental Watering in Victoria 2014-15 Summary of environmental Living Other Total VEWH CEWH Murray source (ML) (ML) (ML) water delivery 2014–15 (ML) (ML)1 Gippsland region Snowy River2 155,308 - - - 155,308 Latrobe River 3,984 3,984 - - - Latrobe system Latrobe wetlands N/A3 ---- Thomson River 13,479 13,479 - - - Macalister River 11,409 11,409 - - - Gippsland region total 184,180 28,872 - - 155,308 Central region The Victorian Environmental Water Holder Yarra River 29,251 29,251 - - - acknowledges the significant contribution of its program partners, particularly the waterway Tarago River 1,842 1,842 - - - Victorian Environmental Werribee River 714 7144 - - - managers, in managing the Water Holdings to Upper Jacksons Creek5 610 610 - - - Water Holder improve the environmental health of Victoria’s Moorabool River 1,685 1,685 - - - rivers, wetlands and floodplains. T: (03) 9637 8951 Lower Barwon wetlands N/A6 ---- Victorian Environmental Water Holder E: [email protected] Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people are warned Central region total 34,102 34,102 - - - PO Box 500, East Melbourne VIC 3002 that this document may contain images or names of Western region deceased persons. 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne Environmental watering Glenelg River 15,449 15,449 - - - vewh.vic.gov.au Wimmera system 18,159 18,159 - - - Wimmera-Mallee wetlands7 112 112 - - 0.48 in Victoria 2014–15 Western region total 33,720 33,720 - - 0.4 www.italicherrydesign.com.au Cover photo: Platypus, by Dave Watts. Above: Cormorant and nest, Hattah Lakes, by Mallee CMA. Summary of environmental Living Other Total VEWH CEWH Murray source (ML) (ML) (ML) water delivery 2014–15 (ML) (ML)1 Gippsland region Snowy River2 155,308 - - - 155,308 Latrobe River 3,984 3,984 - - - Latrobe system Latrobe wetlands N/A3 ---- Thomson River 13,479 13,479 - - - Macalister River 11,409 11,409 - - - Gippsland region total 184,180 28,872 - - 155,308 Central region The Victorian Environmental Water Holder Yarra River 29,251 29,251 - - - acknowledges the significant contribution of its program partners, particularly the waterway Tarago River 1,842 1,842 - - - Victorian Environmental Werribee River 714 7144 - - - managers, in managing the Water Holdings to Upper Jacksons Creek5 610 610 - - - Water Holder improve the environmental health of Victoria’s Moorabool River 1,685 1,685 - - - rivers, wetlands and floodplains. T: (03) 9637 8951 Lower Barwon wetlands N/A6 ---- Victorian Environmental Water Holder E: [email protected] Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people are warned Central region total 34,102 34,102 - - - PO Box 500, East Melbourne VIC 3002 that this document may contain images or names of Western region deceased persons. 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne Environmental watering Glenelg River 15,449 15,449 - - - vewh.vic.gov.au Wimmera system 18,159 18,159 - - - Wimmera-Mallee wetlands7 112 112 - - 0.48 in Victoria 2014–15 Western region total 33,720 33,720 - - 0.4 www.italicherrydesign.com.au Cover photo: Platypus, by Dave Watts. Above: Cormorant and nest, Hattah Lakes, by Mallee CMA. Regional outcomes Summary of environmental Living Other Summary of environmental Living Other Total VEWH CEWH Total VEWH CEWH Murray source Murray source (ML) (ML) (ML) (ML) (ML) (ML) water delivery 2014–15 (ML) (ML)1 water delivery 2014–15 (ML) (ML)1 Northern region Northern region (continued) River Murray 23,500 - - 23,500 - Hattah Lakes9 76,196 14,651 27,306 34,239 - Gunbower Forest 37,394 15,896 21,498 - - Mulcra Island9 6,277 2,516 - 3,761 - Victorian Murray 9 Gunbower Creek 862 862 - - - Wallpolla Island – Horseshoe 400 400 - - - Hirds Swamp 945 945 - - - Lagoon Johnson 11 Large scale environmental watering 1,500 1,500 - - - Ovens River 70 - - 70 - in Gunbower Forest saw many water- Swamp After environmental watering at Lake 12 Victorian dependent plants respond positively, Goulburn River 309,371 29,139 54,349 225,884 - Yando, more than 70 different species of Murray system Lake Elizabeth 675 675 - - - birds, frogs and turtles were observed. including two threatened species: the wavy Lower Broken Creek 34,306 1,678 - 32,629 - marshwort and river swamp wallaby-grass. Lake Murphy 2,983 2,983 - - - Central Murray Broken system Upper Broken Creek 387 387 - - - McDonalds wetlands 904 904 - - - Swamp Moodies Swamp 500 250 - 250 - After environmental watering at Moodies Round Lake 556 556 - - - Campaspe River 30,729 22,364 2,574 5,791 - Swamp, a pair of brolga was sighted, Campaspe system feeding and displaying a coutship dance. Wirra-Lo Coliban River 441 441 - - - wetland 140 140 - - - Wimmera-Mallee Loddon River 11,870 9,000 - 2,870 - system Environmental watering in the Snowy complex River mimicked the unique flow pattern Brickworks Birchs Creek 100 100 - - - of the mountainous Snowy system. This 200 100 - 100 - Loddon system Broken flow pattern is important to maintain the Billabong Lake Meran 2,000 2,000 - - - system shape of the Snowy River channel which Boort wetlands Wimmera Bridge Creek 800 567 - 233 - Lake Yando 558 558 - - - has suffered from years of dwindling system Loddon Victorian Murray 10 system Ovens flows caused by river regulation. Bullock Swamp 481 181 - 300 - Northern region total 549,073 112,365 105,727 330,981 - system Burra Creek In the Glenelg River, one estuary perch 317 317 - - - TOTAL WATER USE 801,075 209,059 105,727 330,981 155,308.4 North swam at least 300km due to environmental Campaspe watering and the removal of fish barriers. system Goulburn Burra Creek 1 Other source refers to water that is either delivered outside of Victoria, or delivered in Victoria but not accounted for under the system Snowy 535 220 - 315 - system South environmental Water Holdings. The VEWH/CEWH/Living Murray columns only account for environmental water delivered through Victorian accounts. Gippsland Region Cardross Lake 577 288 - 288 - 2 Environmental water delivery occurred in New South Wales reaches of the Snowy River. The delivery was aimed to achieve outcomes Neds Corner Werribee Lower Murray 124 124 - - - in the New South Wales reaches of the River, however provided some downstream benefits to the Victorian reaches. system Yarra Central Region Central system wetlands 3 Use of the Holdings in the Latrobe system are based on the river height at the Swing Bridge, rather than a volumetric entitlement. Moorabool Glenelg Thomson, Neds Corner 4 system system Macalister Western Region 88 88 - - - Includes use of 330 ML of allocation made available for use by Melbourne Water. Tarago East Barwon & Latrobe 5 In 2013–14, water allocations purchased by Melbourne Water and the VEWH contributed to the delivery of 610 ML of environmental system system systems Nyah 1,266 1,266 - - - water to meet objectives in Upper Jacksons Creek, in the Maribyrnong system, where no permanent Water Holdings are currently held. Northern Region Floodplain 6 Use of the Holdings in the Barwon system are based on the river height in the Barwon River, rather than a volumetric entitlement. Psyche Lagoon 1,015 597 - 418 - The Living Murray icon sites 7 Refer to page 38 for a list of the wetlands watered. Sandilong Creek 137 137 - - - Environmental watering was found to 8 Water delivered to the Wimmera Mallee wetlands in supply system 5 was made available from GWMWater allocation. Vinifera trigger the migration and spawning 500 500 - - - 9 Return flows contributed to delivery at these sites. Environmental watering triggered the of Australian grayling in the Thomson Floodplain 10 Includes use of 12 ML of allocation donated to the VEWH by a local landholder in the Mallee region. spawning of Macquarie perch in the Yarra system, with record numbers of Australian Woorlong River for the second successive year. grayling eggs found in autumn 2015. 369 34 - 334 - 11 The VEWH has no Water Holdings in the Ovens system. Wetland 12 Includes use of 34.5 ML of allocation donated to the VEWH by Parks Victoria. Draft 1 Foreword 2 Introduction 4 Protecting platypus in Victoria 8 Shared benefits from environmental watering 12 Aboriginal environmental outcomes from environmental watering 14 Recreational benefits from environmental watering 16 Gippsland region 18 Latrobe system 20 Thomson system 21 Macalister system 22 Snowy system 23 Central region 24 Yarra system 26 Tarago system 27 Werribee system 28 Lower Barwon wetlands 29 Moorabool system 30 Western region 32 Building resilient rivers 34 Glenelg system 36 Wimmera system 37 Wimmera–Mallee wetlands 38 Northern region 40 Making every drop count 42 Goulburn system 44 Broken system 45 Goulburn–Broken wetlands 46 Campaspe system 47 Central Murray wetlands 48 Lower Murray wetlands 49 Lodden system 50 The Living Murray icon sites 52 Ovens system 56 Glossary 58 Reflections – Environmental watering in Victoria 2014–15 | 1 Welcome to Reflections – environmental watering in Monitoring continues to improve the way we measure Victoria 2014–15. This annual booklet reflects the work and adapt environmental water management in our of the Victorian Environmental Water Holder and its rivers and wetlands. Aside from assessing water quality partners in supporting rivers and wetlands and the and observing the presence of species, Victorian wildlife that depends on them. waterway managers are employing cutting-edge monitoring technology such as acoustic tracking of In our fourth year of operation, VEWH prioritised platypus and fish and testing of water samples using and coordinated delivery of the largest ever number environmental DNA. We are also seeing valuable use of watering actions. Together with our partners, we of citizen science monitoring, as communities provide targeted 243 priority watering actions and delivered qualitative feedback about environmental watering and 645,767 ML of water across the state. its outcomes. As we gather these annual stories it is becoming As always, I would like to recognise the ongoing increasingly clear that environmental water has tangible time and effort of all our program partners this year, and critical benefits for hundreds of species of plants including waterway managers, storage managers, and and animals, including rare and threatened species.
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