| Tumut River | |
|---|---|
Tumut River, near Tumut, New South Wales |
|
| Origin | Snowy Mountains |
| Mouth | confluence with the Murrumbidgee River |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Basin area | 4,000 km² [1] |
The Tumut River is a river in New South Wales, Australia.
The Tumut River rises on the northern face of Mount Jagungal in the Snowy Mountains of southern New South Wales. It flows about 145km before joining the Murrumbidgee River, at Darbalara near the town of Gundagai.[2] Although quite a short river, the natural flow of the Tumut River is quite high, as it drains the snowmelt and other runoff from a large proportion of the northern Snowy Mountains. The natural flow of the river is amplified by water transferred from the Tooma River and Lake Eucumbene by the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Between Cabramurra and Tumut, a series of five dams and four hydro-electric power stations harness the flow of the river. These include Tumut Power Station and Blowering Dam and Talbingo Dam
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The tumut river has been a popular destination for a variety of sport and leisure activities including;
Canoeing/Kayaking - there are many excellent opportunities for canoeing downstream of Blowering Dam. Canoeing activities are often limited to higher flows as winter low flows are very difficult to paddle. Paddling is very pleasant at discharges above 2000ML/day at Blowering Dam. The Tumut Valley Canoe Club are regular paddlers of the Tumut River.
Fishing - Fishing on the Tumut river is now limited to cold water species eg Trout. The low temperatures of the river due to the bottom of the dam releases from Blowering Dam have virtually eliminated native fish species.
The Tumut river has been subject to considerable debate and lobbying on environmental grounds. The Tumut river has been widely documented as suffering from the effects of the un-natural flow regime resulting from the creation of the Snowy Mountain Scheme and the irrigation demand downstream of the Tumut river. Environmental damage attributed to the NSW Governments management of the Tumut river include;
Erosion of River banks - quoted as approximating 2ha of lost land per km of river frontage. [3][4]
Waterlogging(souring) of low lying land along the river.
Isolation of historical annabranches of the river. Eg Holt's annabranch which is now regularly cut off at low flows. The historic village of Brungle has been the subject of considerable media coverage on both Prime and WIN TV regarding river fows and water quality.
Thermal Pollution (Low water temperatures). Resulting from the "bottom of the dam" outlet of Blowering Dam.[5]
Loss of flora and Fauna from the extreme changes in water level from high irrigation flows to winter flows of less than 500ML/day. eg. platapi (Platapus)[6]
"Rock facing" of river banks to attempt to control erosion caused by high irrigation flows.