The Goulburn River black water event has started to resolve.
Up to 3000ML additional water was released from Goulburn Weir from Sunday, to help dilute debris-rich run-off from local creeks, which discoloured the river downstream of Shepparton.
Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority environmental water manager Simon Casanelia said run off from Castle, Pranjip and Seven creeks, included leaf litter and other debris.
It had entered the Goulburn River near Shepparton, causing the water to look darker in stretches.
“We have been monitoring dissolved oxygen levels – a measure of water quality,” he said.
Dissolved oxygen levels at McCoy’s Bridge, which had dropped to critically low levels, had started to recover, since the release of the water.
The amount of environmental water, that could be delivered to the Goulburn, was limited by river operations, and the need to share channel and river capacity with irrigators and town supplies.
The blackwater was not expected to cause fish deaths, as it flowed into the Murray, as the flows in that river were stronger than those in the Goulburn.
The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (CMA) was also considering an environmental water delivery along the lower Goulburn River early autumn to encourage yellow belly to migrate from the Murray River into the Goulburn River.
