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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 76(13)

Environmental flows in the upper Murrumbidgee River: evaluating flow delivery and governance to inform future environmental flow agreements

Anna McGuire https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2920-3858 A * and Jamie Pittock https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6293-996X B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia.

B Australian National University, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Acton, ACT, Australia. Email: jamie.pittock@anu.edu.au

* Correspondence to: u6715268@anu.edu.au

Handling Editor: Fiona Dyer

Marine and Freshwater Research 76, MF24286 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF24286
Submitted: 22 December 2024  Accepted: 25 July 2025  Published: 26 August 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

In 2002, an inter-governmental agreement was established to deliver environmental flows for the Snowy, Murrumbidgee and other montane rivers, the first legally binding agreement of its kind in Australia. River health had been declining owing to flow diversion for hydropower and agriculture.

Aims

To assess the extent to which environmental flows have been delivered in the upper Murrumbidgee River, the effectiveness of governance arrangements and the lessons that can be learned from this example to inform future environmental flow agreements globally.

Methods

This research evaluated 18 years of environmental release data, historic flow data and studies of river health. Governance arrangements were evaluated against the OECD Principles on Water Governance for effectiveness, efficiency and trust and engagement.

Key results

Environmental releases to the upper Murrumbidgee River were below the 27-GL annual target in 10 of the 15 years from 2008 to 2022. The average annual environmental release volume over this period was 18.9 GL.

Conclusions

The target was consistently not met because of insufficient volumes of water being allocated for environmental releases.

Implications

Future agreements can benefit from the findings, including setting enforceable targets, ensuring independent scientific oversight and implementing a flow response monitoring program with public reporting.

Keywords: environmental flows, flow regimes, hydropower, OECD Principles on Water Governance, river health, upper Murrumbidgee River, water governance, water management.

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