Why can the River Murray be left to flow naturally to solve the issues facing the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth?
The River Murray is regulated using locks, weirs, barrages and water storages. Regulation began to maintain a reasonable amount of water in the river so water would be available even in times of severe drought when it would not naturally flow. Currently, upstream reservoirs and water storages are well below their long-term average capacities, even though the amount of water diverted from the Murray-Darling Basin in 2007-08 was the lowest since records began in 1983-84. If regulation was to end, water would not have reached the Murray Mouth for several years. This happened in the past, before the river was regulated, during the final years of the Federation drought in 1901-03 and the 1911-16 drought. Regulation has allowed some water (although currently reduced amounts) to be available for water supplies, irrigation and recreational boating when this would not have been possible naturally. As a result of current low river flows and low volumes of water in upstream storages, letting the
Related Questions
- Why isn using the River Murray for irrigation stopped to help solve the issues facing the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth?
- Why can the River Murray be left to flow naturally to solve the issues facing the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth?
- Why isn water released from upstream to help solve the issues facing the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth?
