Every year, we plan for a range of conditions, from very dry to very wet. Even if we expect wetter conditions in the year ahead, water for the environment still has an important role to play.
Before river regulation, water would flow over riverbanks and across floodplains. This meant wetlands were regularly soaked.
Now, dams, roads and other structures can stop water from reaching many wetlands, even if there is a lot of rain.
How we use water for the environment when it’s wet
Even in wetter years, we carefully manage how we use water for the environment. This helps ensure the long-term health of the Murray–Darling Basin.
Build resilience to prepare for the next drought
We can capitalise on rainfall by adding water for the environment. This helps us distribute water over a larger area, including to wetlands and onto floodplains. This is important because there is not enough water for the environment alone to reach all the wetlands and floodplains of the Basin.
Water for the environment can be used in wet conditions to:
- make water flow into wetlands for longer
- top up wetlands later in the year
- direct water to sites that miss out in moderate and dry years.
This helps wetland plants recover and grow, creating habitat for native animals. This helps ensure that plants and animals are healthy enough to withstand the next drought.
Maintain healthy water quality
Wet conditions can wash pollutants and sediments into water bodies, impacting water quality. Sometimes this could be many years' worth of leaf litter that has built up on floodplains.
This influx of nutrients can cause low-oxygen water (hypoxic water), which can kill aquatic life.
In some places, water for the environment can be added to low-oxygen water to provide a safe place for fish to live while the leaf litter degrades or while the pollutants are diluted.
Support animal breeding
Many native plant and animal species rely on periods of both wet and dry conditions to thrive and survive.
Water naturally filling wetlands may encourage bird breeding events. But if wetlands dry out too quickly, waterbirds can't complete their breeding cycle.
We may use water for the environment to delay wetlands drying out. We use water to 'top up' the wetland to maintain breeding conditions so waterbirds nest, hatch their young and then help their young to fledge.
Reduce risk to people, farms and animals
Wetter conditions present both opportunities and risks. Flood conditions pose potential risks to people, farms and animals.
We work closely with the community to ensure water for the environment is not delivered where it will make the impacts of flooding worse.
Conditions over the past few years
In 2021–22, the Basin lived up to its reputation as "a land of droughts and flooding rains". While some rivers started flowing again, other catchments had no rain and remained in drought conditions.
In the 2022–23 water year, there was above average rainfall but still some catchments had no rain.
Find out more
The Water Management Plan 2023-24 has more information about how we have planned to use our water this water year.
You can also learn about how we manage water when it’s dry.