Authorities are looking at options to fix a giant “sand slug” in the Murray River. 

The accumulation of sand at the Barmah Choke on the New South Wales–Victorian border has reduced the capacity of the thin stretch of river by more than 2,000 megalitres per day since the 1980s.  

The sand has been built up by years of land clearing and mining activities, which washes into the river, moves downstream and builds up at the choke. It is now estimated that 20 million cubic metres of sand have settled on the riverbed between the Yarrawonga Weir and Picnic Point - enough sand to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground a staggering 13 times over.

Six potential options to address the declining flow have been detailed in a report released by the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).

The six options being explored are:

  • Stabilising the banks to prevent further incursion of water into the Barmah–Millewa Forest

  • Removing sand from key locations

  • Changing the timing of water delivery to Lake Victoria–Tar-Ru to be better attuned to environmental watering events

  • Using Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District infrastructure to deliver water downstream

  • Using Murray Irrigation Limited system to deliver water through the Edward/Kolety–Wakool–Niemur river system

  • Releasing water to the Murray River via the Murrumbidgee River through the Snowy Hydro scheme.

The options will be presented to governments in December 2022 for them to decide which options to investigate further or to proceed to a business case and formal community consultation.

MDBA Executive Director of River Management Andrew Reynolds says the options were identified and scoped at the request of Basin state governments.

“We have spent the past year investigating the cause of lower flows and changed river conditions in this important part of the Murray,” Mr Reynolds said.

“This foundational work will support governments to be fully informed when they come to decide how they would like to progress at the end of 2022.

“Six options have been developed to safeguard water delivery downstream while ensuring the Barmah–Millewa section of river does not suffer further reduced volume of flow, environmental decline or cultural impact.

“This work has meant looking at the whole river system to assess each option’s effectiveness and reliability, and its engineering and ecological viability.”