Wyangala releases cut by two-thirds as inflows recede
15 NOVEMBER 2022The volume of water coming from Wyangala Dam into the Lachlan River has been reduced by two-thirds from the record level experienced yesterday afternoon (Monday, 14 November) with further reductions planned for later today.
Having exceeded capacity Sunday night, the dam reached a peak release rate of 230 gigalitres per day (GL/day) on Monday before being reduced to 80 GL/day at 6am this morning (Tuesday, 15 November).
With inflows from the dam’s saturated catchment continuing to recede, releases from the dam will likely be further reduced to 60 GL/day to reduce flood impacts downstream.
At 6am the dam storage was 103.8%, down from 104.7% yesterday during the peak of the inflows, which reached a rate of 265 GL/day. Inflows are currently down to ~86 GL/day.
Burrendong Dam
WaterNSW is managing to keep water releases from Burrendong Dam low despite the Macquarie River storage continuing to receive significant inflows from the upstream catchment.
The dam is currently at 134% of capacity and rising after receiving the second of what is expected to be three inflow surges caused by heavy weekend rain across the Central West.
The dam’s large flood mitigation zone allowed WaterNSW to keep releases as low as 12 GL/day to allow large flows in downstream tributaries such as the Bell and Little Rivers to peak and begin receding.
With inflows to the dam down from 170 GL/day yesterday to 115 GL/day today, WaterNSW has increased dam releases to just 20 GL/day from 6am.
It is expected that the dam’s storage level will peak at 142.0% on Thursday.
More information:
- Register for the Early Warning Network (EWN)
- Visit WaterInsights for dam levels and releases
- View the BoM website for weather and flood updates
- For emergency information, contact the NSW SES or phone 132 500