Burrendong releases reduced to ease impact

10 December 2010 – 9:30AM

Water releases from Burrendong Dam were further reduced in the early hours of the morning to lessen the impact from dam releases on rivers downstream.

The storage level has increased to 132.4% following inflows from rain in the upstream catchments yesterday and last night.

State Water’s acting water delivery manager Scott Barber said the rate of inflows had increased to 70,000ML/day.

“Through the night inflows went from a rate of 24,000ML up to around 70,000Ml/day.

“Although inflows have increased we’ve been able to temporarily reduce outflows to 10,000ML/day to ease pressure downstream until the peaks have passed,” Mr Barber said.

“Outflows will go back up to a rate of 30,000ML/day around midday as we continue to create further airspace.”

State Water has now moved into the second phase of airspace operations, Mr Barber said.

“Our first phase of airspace operations saw us draw the storage from 150% back to 130%.

“The second phase will involve determining the most appropriate strategy to get the storage back to an acceptable level.”

The Flood Mitigation Zone Reference Panel would be consulted later today to discuss downstream opinions on the most effective strategy, Mr Barber said.

For information on flood warnings, please contact the State Emergency Service on 132 500 or visit the website www.ses.nsw.gov.au.
 
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