Murrumbidgee I Water Source and Murrumbidgee II Water Source

Environmental releases are occurring under the Commonwealth’s Upper Murrumbidgee Drought Operating Framework (UMDOF) and the Snowy Montane Rivers Increased Flows (SMRIF) program.  

The UMDOF releases aim to avoid the critical impacts that drought conditions have on communities and the environment in the Upper Murrumbidgee. UMDOF releases complement the SMRIF program by triggering releases during extreme dry periods where there is not sufficient SMRIF water available for the environment. UMDOF releases from Tantangara Dam are made when flow drops below pre-defined low flow triggers. Further information on the framework can be found here: Improving the health of the Upper Murrumbidgee - DCCEEW.  

The Lobbs Hole trigger under the framework has been met and the pre-planned releases for this trigger commenced on Friday 27 February. This includes an initial flushing release followed by a series of smaller releases. The aim of the release is to maintain minimum flow at Lobbs Hole on the Murrumbidgee River in the ACT to avoid cease-to-flow conditions and to maintain key instream refuges in the upper Murrumbidgee River. The planned release pattern and triggers for ceasing the release are detailed in the Interagency operating procedures. The release may be larger on some days if the planned SMRIF release is larger.  

A temporary water restriction, under section 324 of the Water Management Act 2000, will be imposed to protect the environmental flows from extraction. The order effectively increases the access threshold of the unregulated river access licences by the estimated volume of environmental flow passing the two reference gauges for the Murrumbidgee I and II water sources. The order protects both UMDOF releases and SMRIF releases. These water sources are described in the Water Sharing Plan for the Murrumbidgee Regulated River Water Source 2025.  

Any water in the river above the increased thresholds will still be available to unregulated river access licence holders. The section 324 order will not impact access for domestic and stock licence holders, so they can continue to extract water during the restrictions.

If the UMDOF releases cease before the end of March, the order will be repealed. 

How to comply with the temporary water restriction

f you are an unregulated river access licence holder in either the Murrumbidgee I or II water source, you can only pump during the 1 – 31 March 2026 period if flows at your flow reference gauge are above the temporarily increased commence-to-pump thresholds for that day, as published in Table 1 of the Temporary Water Restriction Order and also published in the access announcement on the WaterInsights page for the Murrumbidgee I and Murrumbidgee II.

For further instructions on how to comply, follow the “how-to guide” on WaterNSW’s WaterInsights page for the Murrumbidgee II.

Download the Temporary Water Restriction (Murrumbidgee I Water Source and Murrumbidgee II Water Source) Order (No. 2) 2026.

Reasons for decision

Section 324 of the Water Management Act 2000 allows the Minister or delegate to order that temporary water restrictions within a water source(s) are to have effect for a specified period, if these restrictions are determined to be in the public interest.  

Examples of the public interest referred to in section 324(1) are “to cope with a water shortage, threat to public health or safety or to manage water for environmental purposes”.  

It is in the public interest to make an order to restrict access of the environmental flow in the upper Murrumbidgee River in the Murrumbidgee I and II Water Sources to manage water for environmental purposes, for the following reasons:

• the drought releases are only available due to Commonwealth funding to mitigate risks to the health of the upper Murrumbidgee River during drought.
• the environmental releases are designed to avoid catastrophic environmental outcomes and impacts on aquatic fauna by maintaining key instream refuges and avoiding cease-to-flow conditions.
• if the environmental release took place without a restriction, unregulated river access licences holder could lawfully extract the resulting environmental flows, limiting the environment outcomes described above and working against the public interest.  

Accordingly, the section 324 order is being made to protect the delivery of the environmental water in the upper Murrumbidgee River.  

The section 324 order also includes the ability to lift restrictions, for example if the UMDOF releases cease or if rainfall causes increased flows and the UMDOF releases were no longer at risk of extraction. 

Allan Raine
Acting Executive Director, Water Operations and Resilience
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

27 February 2026