The Federal and South Australian governments have jointly announced a $86.7 million package for a Riverine Recovery Project that  aims to improve the environmental health of the Murray River and its wetlands and floodplains from the Victorian border to Wellington, with works to start within the next two months.

 

The Federal Government has pledged $78 million, while the South Australian State Government will contribute an additional $8.7 million towards the project.

 

The Riverine Recovery Project will improve efficiency of environmental water use by reducing evaporative losses and boost the ecological health for floodplains and wetlands, and is expected to also return water savings of 15 gigalitres of entitlements.

 

Areas to benefit under the Riverine Recovery Project include:

  • Floodplains: Major works to restore the health of the Pike and Catfish Reach floodplains. This will enhance environmental flows, encourage fish passage and habitat and enable connectivity of the floodplain and the river channel; 
  • Wetlands: New infrastructure and investigation into ways to improve wetland health by re-introducing more natural wetting and drying cycles to improve ecosystem health;
  • Enhanced River Operations: Investigating better river management through adjusting the height of weirs to make the most of available water resources; and
  • Information Management to Support Decision Making: Monitoring various indicators of wetlands and floodplains including wildlife, vegetation and water quality as a result of project activities to better inform the management of environmental water, to maximise positive ecological and biological outcomes.

TThis funding is in addition to $9.2 million announced by the Gillard and Rann governments in March for the Riverine Recovery Project early works activities.