1949-74 Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme is constructed, diverting flows from 12 rivers and 71 creeks in the Snowy Mountains to the Murray-Darling Basin.
1967 The Snowy Hydro Scheme captures 99% of Snowy River’s headwaters upon completion of the Jindabyne Dam, the fourth major dam on the upper Snowy catchment.
1996 The Expert Panel Environmental Flow Assessment of the Snowy River below Jindabyne recommends the equivalent of 28% mean annual natural flow (MANF) as the minimum environmental flow needed for the Snowy below Jindabyne Dam.
2000 Commonwealth, Victorian and NSW Governments sign the Heads of Agreement, a ten-year plan to restore the Snowy River below Jindabyne up to 28% MANF (approx.330GL[1]) and provide increased flows up to 118 GL/yr to Snowy montane rivers, and 70 GL/yr to the River Murray.
2002 The three governments sign the Snowy Water Inquiry Outcomes Implementation Deed (SWIOID). Snowy Hydro Ltd (SHL) is corporatised. Legislation commits NSW, Victoria and the Commonwealth to providing $375 million funding for Water for Rivers to obtain water savings in the Murray and Murrumbidgee systems to off-set increased flows to Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam up to 21%; increased flows up to 118GL to five Snowy montane rivers including two sections of the upper Snowy above Jindabyne Dam; and 70 GL/yr to the River Murray by 2012. The three governments commit to returning 28% to the Snowy below Jindabyne post-2012. The legislation also requires the NSW Government to establish the independent Snowy Scientific Committee.
NSW Government issues a 75-year water licence to Snowy Hydro Ltd.
2007 Commonwealth Government contributes an additional $50million to Water for Rivers towards the 2012 Snowy River Increased Flow target of 21% MANF.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam:
Legislated target increased flows by 2012:
· By June 2012 the return of 21% ( 212 gigalitres plus total base passing flow[2])
· Post- 2012 the return of 28% ( 294 gigalitres plus base passing flow)
Actual flows 2016-17
Environmental allocation for 2016-17 is 122.07GL, plus 9GL regulated base passing flow from Jindabyne Dam: total environmental releases 131.07GL= 11.26%
In March 2012 a major flood in the upper Snowy catchment caused Jindabyne dam to spill; this water has to be repaid to SHL from the Snowy environmental allocation at 2GL/yr for 4 years commencing 2015/16. The highest environmental release to the Snowy River was in 2013/14 with 190.06GL=16.3%.
Snowy River above Jindabyne Dam in Kosciuszko National Park
Legislated target flows by 2012 Cf Scheduled flows 2016-17
· Below Guthega Dam: 30GL/yr ZERO
· Below Island Bend Dam: 29GL/yr up to18.9GL
Snowy River Montane Flows above Jindabyne Dam
Island Bend Dam and Guthega Dam were not constructed with the capacity to make environmental releases, although both dams occasionally spill during the spring snow melt.
Therefore, according to the Snowy Water Licence, increased flows were to be delivered to the section of the Snowy River below Guthega Dam via Perisher and Rams Flat Creek weirs and flows to the Snowy River below Island Bend via the weir on the Gungarlin River. However scheduled flows have still not been delivered to the Snowy below Guthega Dam and the scheduled flows below Island Bend Dam are much reduced. Instead of modifying the weir on the Gungarlin River, in May 2013, Snowy Hydro lifted the gates on two small creeks Tollbar and Diggers Creeks. The combined average flow of these two creeks is only 22 GL so they can never deliver the Snowy Water Licence target flow of 29GL. Both the Gungarlin River (MANF 100GL) and its major tributary the Burrungabugee River (MANF 44.5 GL) are totally diverted.
River Murray Increased Flows (RMIF)
In 2002, as part of the intergovernmental Snowy agreements, the Commonwealth Government contributed $75million to Water for Rivers to return 70 gigalitres per annum to the River Murray. Under the Snowy Water Licence, Snowy Hydro Ltd stores the accumulating River Murray annual allocation as Above Target Water over which it has complete discretion. Snowy Hydro Ltd has only ever made one release of 38GL of the taxpayer funded River Murray Increased Flows in 2005/06. In Oct. 2011 the NSW Government amended the Snowy Hydro water licence so that RMIF could not be released unless a minimum of 800GL of Above Target Water was held in Snowy Scheme storages,
Even though water savings owed the Murray have not been released annually, the 70GL annual allocation is still accounted for in the total baseline environmental water acquired for the Murray-Darling Basin under the Basin Plan.
The total volume of unreleased River Murray Increased Flows held by Snowy Hydro Ltd is now 510GL.
Snowy Scientific Committee
According to the NSW Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act (in effect June 28, 2002), an independent Snowy Scientific Committee was to be established to advise the NSW Water Administration Ministerial Corporation on environmental flows for the Snowy River and other rivers and streams in the Snowy Scheme. It was also to produce annual public State of the Environment Reports and these were to be available to inform public submissions to the first Five-Year Review of the Snowy Water Licence. However the NSW Government delayed the establishment of the Snowy Scientific Committee until 31st January 2008, the same day as the closing date for submissions to the Five-Year Review.
In its first three-year term the Snowy Scientific Committee produced an invaluable series of independent reports on the adequacy of environmental flows to the Snowy River and the Upper Murrumbidgee River; Annual Environmental Release Recommendations; and an Options paper on the impact of Mowamba Borrowings Account on the recovery of the Snowy River.
In May 2011 the Committee’s first three-year term expired and despite promises to do so by a number of NSW Government Ministers the Committee was not re-established.
In September 2014 the NSW Government amended the Snowy corporatisation legislation to replace the independent Snowy Scientific Committee with a government controlled advisory committee with a greatly reduced role. To date the advisory committee has still not been established.
Water for Rivers.
Water for Rivers, the authority funded to obtain water savings to off-set Snowy River Increased Flows, Snowy Montane Rivers Increased Flows and River Murray Increased Flows, faced escalating costs during its operations due to increased competition from other government funded water recovery programs in the Murray Darling Basin. Approximately half of the entitlements obtained by Water for Rivers from water savings projects and entitlement purchases are general security water, which deliver little or NO real water to the Snowy except in wet years. Consequently, almost half a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money will have been spent to return approximately 15% real water to the Snowy below Jindabyne Dam in the long-term, far short of the required 28% minimum environmental flow.
Mowamba Aqueduct was de-commissioned (i.e. shut off) to return the first environmental flows to the Snowy on August 28, 2002. On January 31 2006, during the attempted sale of the Snowy Hydro Scheme, Snowy Hydro Ltd re-opened Mowamba Aqueduct, diverting the waters of the Mowamba River, a tributary of the Snowy, back into the Jindabyne Dam, effectively cutting the Snowy off from its last remaining natural headwaters. The first Five-year Review of the Snowy Water Licence environmental provisions was undertaken by the NSW Government in 2007, however the NSW Government excluded the adequacy of environmental flows from the terms of reference of the review. Many submissions to the review supported the permanent decommissioning of the Mowamba Aqueduct. This was an opportune time to make changes to the Snowy Water Licence to deliver better environmental outcomes for the Snowy River as any changes made to the Licence following the First Five-year Review would not require the NSW Government to pay Snowy Hydro Ltd compensation. However the NSW Government refused to recommend decommissioning Mowamba weir, stating that they would undertake further studies and make a decision in 2012. A decision has still not been made.
Snowy River catchment an endangered aquatic ecological community
In April 2011 the NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee made a final determination to list the Snowy River catchment in NSW as an endangered aquatic ecological community under the NSW Fisheries Management Act (1994).
Murray-Darling Basin Plan
The Snowy Hydro Scheme contributes more than 2000 gigalitres to the Murray-Darling Basin every year, of which nearly half (approx. 1000GL) is sourced from the Snowy River alone.
Yet even though the Snowy Water Licence permits a massively unsustainable volume of water to be diverted from the Snowy River headwaters, the Commonwealth Water Act (2007) excluded the Snowy Scheme from the Basin Plan and the Snowy Water Licence from review.
This is completely inconsistent with the environmental provisions of the Water Act, which require the Basin Plan to identify sustainable diversion limits for all Basin water resources. It also limits the volume of water that the Basin Plan may return to westerly flowing rivers affected by the Snowy Scheme, and does not address the future risks to Basin water supplies of reduced snowmelt flows from the Snowy Mountains due to climate change.
Outstanding Issues
· The 70GL River Murray annual allocation funded by the Commonwealth must be delivered.
· Negotiations to fund and deliver the legislated 28% ANF below Jindabyne Dam must be initiated immediately. The minimum environmental flow of 28% ANF to the Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam remains unfunded by the shareholder governments. In addition the Act requires the three governments to compensate Snowy Hydro Ltd for lost generation capacity.
· An independent Snowy Scientific Committee must be immediately re-established.
· The scheduled increased flows to the Upper Snowy River ABOVE Jindabyne Dam in Kosciuszko National Park must be delivered.
· The Mowamba Aqueduct must be permanently decommissioned to provide a proxy headwaters flow for the Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam.
· All the tributary rivers and streams in the upper Snowy catchment, including the Eucumbene River, which were not included in the original Snowy flows legislation, must receive environmental flows.
· The Snowy Scheme must be fully integrated with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and sustainable diversion limits identified for the Snowy River, and all other rivers affected by the Scheme. ©LC
3
The Snowy River must flow again
[1] 1 Gigalitre (GL)= 1 billion litres= 1,000 megalitres. Snowy Hydro Water Year is from 1 May to 30 April.
[2]According to the SWIOID Total Base passing flow includes 9GL regulated base passing flow from Jindabyne Dam PLUS 18- 24GL unregulated base passing flow (i.e. spills) over Mowamba and Cobbon Creek weirs. Without the 18-24 GL of Mowamba spills there will be a 2% shortfall to Snowy River target flows below Jindabyne Dam.