WATER that the State Government plans to release from Lake Jindabyne dam into the Snowy River over the next three days will do no more than supply ''life support'' to a river which is dying through neglect, a local watchdog body has claimed.
From today extra water - above the usual 100 megalitres a day - will be released from the dam to ''minimise the likelihood of poor water quality in pools in the Snowy River below the dam,'' the NSW Office of Water said.
The release will peak at 870 megalitres tomorrow and dwindle to 80 megalitres on Wednesday, but the vice chairman of the Snowy River Alliance, Louise Crisp, said this would not enough to restore the series of deep pools in the 24-kilometre stretch from Jindabyne to Dalgety.
''This will have short-term benefit,'' she said. ''It would require greater flows over a period of time to have any real benefit. The Snowy Scientific Committee said it would need at least a week during hot spells in summer.''
Very few fish can now live in the pools because water near the surface has become too hot, and the cold water beneath is deprived of oxygen, she said. It was one symptom of ecological distress, among many, to be found along the Snowy.
The scientific committee had described the state of the river as dire, she said.
The State Government, she said, had signed ''a death warrant for the Snowy'' by deciding that for years to come the river should get about 4 per cent of the original flows it enjoyed before 1967, the year almost every drop of its headwaters was captured in Jindabyne dam and diverted west.
''It's had its headwaters swiped and that hasn't been remedied despite mountains of legislation,'' she said. ''It's in a critical state because it has had flows of less than 5 per cent for more than 40 years below Jindabyne.''
Her group is calling for an independent audit to assess the lack of progress in providing flows to the river.
The State Government had signed a deed with the federal and Victorian governments in 2002 that set a target of 15 per cent of the natural flow to be released into the river by June 2009, Ms Crisp said. Instead, just 4 per cent was released last year. This meant the state was not on track to meet subsequent undertakings, including a target of 21 per cent by June 2012, and 28 per cent after that, she said.
The deed was designed to restore the Snowy over 10 years, but the increased flows to save the river were targets rather than mandatory minimum requirements, she said. NSW government agencies had used the drought as an excuse not to fulfil their obligations.
A spokeswoman for the NSW Water Minister, Phil Costa, said the short-term release was on the scientific committee's advice and, despite the worst drought on record, 212 gigalitres had been sent down the Snowy.
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