Snowy River Flows Again

10th October 2011
by Steve Cuff

The "once" mighty Snowy River turned back the clock to its glory days with water again rapidly flowed downstream from the town of Jindabyne.

Today the Jindabyne Dam spillway opened and along with cone valves at the base of the dam will deliver a total of 84000 megalitres during a 19 day water release from October 5-24.
At its peak tonight an estimated 12000 megalitres will flow with the main flow lasting for the next three days.

The flow of the Snowy River has been a very hot topic of debate over past decades as the river below the Jindabyne Dam has deteriorated due to lack of regular water.
NSW Office of Water stated on their website, “In order to improve the condition of the Snowy River, flows are required to scour fine sediment and to re-shape the river to make better use of future environmental water.”
“These geomorphic releases will be a primary purpose of releases for a few years in order to improve the physical condition of the river, preparing the river to house the types of plants and animals typical of a snow melt river,” they further mentioned.

During maximum flows the river is expected to rise 3.6m, which is within the original banks of the Snowy River prior to the dam being built.
The Jindabyne lake level is expected to drop three vertical metres from its current high mark. The lake has been basking in full splendour recently and is as it highest mark for as long as anyone can remember.
The town of Jindabyne and the lake is visually better with this high lake level as the big brown rim that is normally evident on the lake shore is submerged.

The Jindabyne Dam had not seen major water over the spillway since 1975. Below is an historical photo showing what the spillway looked like and you can see that major work has been done to prevent erosion of the surrounding banks.

The flow certainly added interest in the area and there were decent crowds flocking to witness this event. The Snowy Hydro did have a viewing platform adjacent to the dam although the view from this area was not as spectacular as the one taken from near the abseiling rocks across the river, or even at Lakewood Estate common high ground.

Below the dam one of the most noticeable areas to witness the increase of water will be at Dalgety, the small town approximately 40kms from Jindabyne. Normally here the river is at a crawl, but during the next week it will be at its highest levels for decades and certainly flowing at a rapid rate.

Purchase Historic Jindabyne Dam Prints Here.