IWC Murray Darling Study Tour: Day 4

Yesterday we were told that today would be a very busy day. Everyone gets up quite early this morning. At eight we arrived at the first destination: The Aquatic Environment Education Centre at Wonga Wetlands.

Wonga Wetland Center

The Wonga wetland is located near the Albury, NSW and has a total area of 108 ha. It receives about 12-16 ML/day of high quality treated waste water to irrigate the various trees and pastures here in the summer and autumn. In the winter and spring the water is directed into the seven lagoons at the Wonga Wetlands on the River Murray floodplain.

Water from waste water treatment plant piped to the wetland

By acquiring farmland on the floodplain and establishing the Wonga Wetlands, the area has created a unique living laboratory to study the effects of restoring the original river flow regime on wetlands/billabongs.

Wonga Wetlands education centre

Leaving the Wonga Wetlands, we drove to the Charles Sturt University and Ms. Sylvia Zukowski gave us a presentation on the ecosystem health of MDB, especially the Hume Dam. Sylvia spoke about some of the general health issues in the MDB, about research projects that are currently tackling these issues, the Hume Dam and the importance of education in environmental issues. Then we had a short visit around Charles Sturt University, where all the new environment faculty buildings have been designed and built using environmentally friendly materials and water & energy saving principles.

Sylvia at Charles Sturt University

Environmentally friendly buildings at Charles Sturt University

All of us are very excited to see the second largest dam on the Murray River——Hume Dam. We have asked many questions on the real situations and managements of the water quantity & quality of the dam, its influences on the fishes.

Hume Dam, Red gum trees drowned in the reservoir were dead

The Hume Dam

After about two hours in the bus, we arrived at Shepparton in Victoria and visited the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority. Mr. Geoff Earl made an excellent presentation to us on the Environmental Flows Management of Murray River in Victoria. Environmental flow study in the Murray Darling River Basin is one of the most interesting topics for us. After the visit, we had a very extensive discussion on environmental flow issues for the Yellow River Basin.