FAR West NSW landholders have been rejoicing this past week, with water flowing into Lake Menindee for the first time in three years.
Lake Menindee was the first lake to dry up, in mid-2014, within the Menindee Lakes system, which services the town water supply to Broken Hill and Menindee.
The system was at 3pc of capacity in June, forcing the NSW government to propose a $500 million pipeline from the River Murray at Wentworth, NSW, while bore water was part of short-term solutions.
But Darling River flows into the system since July has pushed levels to nearly 34pc of capacity.
Broken Hill Menindee Lakes action group spokesman Darryn Clifton said the opening of the gates to Lake Menindee on Thursday last week was “fantastic”.
“Mother Nature stopped the NSW government from putting us on a bore water supply,” he said. “They made some grave mistakes when they released the water in 2013 and blamed it (the drying of the lakes) on a drought.
“It was a man-made drought. The government had a plan to remove the water and go ahead with a bore water program, to put Menindee and Broken Hill on an alternate source of water.”
Mr Clifton said the River Murray pipeline needed to be reconsidered, as the cheapest option was to replace the Menindee pipeline and remain on surface water.
“The Murray Darling Basin Authority need to take control back of this system and speak with local communities about what they have been through and put a plan of action in place so it does not happen again,” he said.
