Fishway and weir works inject $1M+ into Riverina

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Fishway and weir works inject $1M+ into Riverina

Yallakool fishway and weir
27 June 2012 - State Water Corp

90 kilometres of Murray River has been opened up to native fish following completion of the Yallakool Creek weir refurbishment and fishway near Deniliquin in southern NSW.

The $4.5 million State Water project involved upgrading the weir and improving fish passage by installing new weir gates and a vertical-slot fishway, with more than $1 million spent on local subcontractors, plant hire and suppliers.

State Water project manager Andy Kuisma said the Yallakool project was one of four fishway projects near Deniliquin in the Murray catchment that would together open up more than 500km of waterway to native fish.

“State Water is also undertaking fishway projects at Edward River and Gulpa Creek weirs as well as Stevens Weir, as part of the fish superhighways program.

“Our fish superhighways program is the largest fish passage restoration program in Australia, with more than 2,700km of waterway being opened up to native fish.”

Vertical slot fishways consist of a series of bays at gradually increasing heights to the level of the upstream weir pool.

The fishways allow native fish species to migrate past weirs and overcome the change in water level by swimming into the fishway, resting in each bay and then continuing upstream.

The Yallakool project also involved refurbishment of the existing weir, with five new electrically opened and automated tilting gates to improve safety and efficiency of operation.

Yallakool project contractors Civil Team Engineering were able to use local companies from Deniliquin, Echuca, Cohuna, Moama and Conargo for subcontracting, plant hire and supplies.

The solar-powered, automated gates will facilitate remote operation once they are linked to State Water’s integrated surveillance monitoring and remote telemetry (iSMART) system.

iSMART is a $13.2 million initiative to connect 71 State Water sites across NSW to improve cost efficiency of operations through remote monitoring, surveillance and control.