Seqwater releases water from Bromelton and Wyaralong Dams

[Member]

Seqwater releases water from Bromelton and Wyaralong Dams
Posted  16 December 2014     



Seqwater continues to release water out of Bromelton Dam for irrigation needs, to reduce the draw on Lake Maroon.

Seqwater Chief Executive Officer Peter Dennis said the releases began in late October.

“Irrigators upstream of Bromelton Dam continue to receive their water allocation from Maroon Dam, while those downstream are receiving allocations from Bromelton,” he said.

“The Bromelton releases have reduced the draw on Maroon Dam, which is helping conserve the storage during what is shaping up to be a dry summer.”

Mr Dennis said releases out of Bromelton Dam had increased in recent weeks to 115 megalitres a day.

“The additional water being released from Bromelton Dam has been timed to support Seqwater’s environmental studies into the breeding and migration responses of fish in the Logan River,” he said.

“We will also conduct releases out of Wyaralong Dam this week (Monday 15 December to Friday 19 December) as part of our ongoing environmental studies.”

The project involves Seqwater scientists monitoring the breeding and migration responses of commercially and recreationally important migratory fish to a range of natural and managed flows in the Logan River.

Mr Dennis said the study required the release of prescribed volumes of water at specific times of the year.

“We will assess the merits of alternative water management approaches to inform future planning, with the aim of achieving a sustainable balance,” he said.

“This week 100 megalitres of water will be released each day from Wyaralong Dam. Four months ago we released 200 megalitres a day, also for a period of five days.

“The timing of our releases is chosen to provide beneficial triggers for critical life cycle and migration needs of these key fish species.”

Mr Dennis said the releases aimed to mimic natural flow events on a smaller scale.

“We will assess the outcomes and potential benefits that the flows provide to fish in the Logan River.”
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Environmental flows are to be applauded. However one wonders what are the "key" fish species that will benefit from these flows in December? Bass and Mary River Cod are all done & dusted with breeding by this time. Surely having some redundant weirs on the Logan / Albert system removed would be of more benefit for native fish migration and life cycle. What do you think?? Ed.

[Member]

Probably for mullet at this time ofn year the release 4 months ago may have been for bass.I vaguely recall something from the LAFMA on something that Dave Roberts was doing on times releases.
Cheers
Ray

[Member]

Copy nof email from LAFMA.

On Thursday, 12 December 2013 4:19 PM, Lloyd and Sue Willmann <willmannl@bigpond.com> wrote:
LAFMA members & supporters,
 
Mal & I met with David T Roberts of Seqwater today to get an update on their Logan River Environmental Flows Project and associated acoustic tagging project to monitor timeline movements of certain species within the system. The attached document gives an overview but I have made some comments based on what we were told today:-
 
1.  I have added a few acoustic receiver locations to Fig.1 not shown on the original paperwork from David. (in the Logan around Carbrook and at the mouth, and in the Albert at Beenleigh and a few Km further upstream)
 
2.  Fig.2 -  Note that 0 (distance Km) is around the lower Logan (Mark's and/or Pitts Rocks area) and that acoustic tagged fish hung around upstream (20 to 50km from 0) and only moved downstream on two small river inflows (A & B) .... see also Fig. 3 .. spawning did not occur at the first flow (A) but did occur at flow (B) when the water temp was rising also  ... spawning was proven by locating the fish with the use of a hand held receiver and by using an electrofisher to capture fish and verify that they were spawning. ..... spawning fish were located in an area where the salinity was around 10 ppt ... in this case it was around the lower Logan
 
3.  Not shown is a map indicating that some acoustic tagged bass moved down to the lower Logan to spawn, then on their way back up the river (Logan) they took a detour up the Albert for a while before heading back down the Albert and up the Logan.
 
4.  What does some of this mean you might say ... well, if the bass are moving downstream in winter to spawn on increased river flows, then it makes sense that some summer inflows to dams, such as Wyaralong, can be stored and then released at the appropriate time ie. winter spawning time, instead of following hard and fast rules that say water is to be released when inflows reach a certain trigger point. Southern Queensland does not normally have winter inflows such as southern NSW and Victoria, so it makes sense to release water when bass require it for spawning.
 
Good to see some common sense and scientific data being used in the future to manage our resources, instead of hard and fast rules.
 
 
Cheers, & a Merry x/mas to you and your family.
 
Lloyd Willmann
Secretary
Logan & Albert Fish Management Assoc


    Acoustic tagging project
    .pdf
    Download View

[Member]

Even though we are in a fairly serious "green" drought, I have no issue with this, as the boofheads have not actually connected Wyralong to the water grid.......

[Member]

Hopefully this will work and bring the pdf attachment across.
Cheers
Ray

[Member]

I'm told they cannot connect Wyaralong to the water grid due to water contamination. 

[Member]

I'm told they cannot connect Wyaralong to the water grid due to water contamination.

High PH level. Sits around 8.2