New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WATER SHARING PLAN FOR THE MURRUMBIDGEE REGULATED RIVER WATER SOURCE 2003 - REG 68

68 Airspace operation rules

(1) Airspace operation of Burrinjuck Dam water storage shall be undertaken in accordance with the following principles:

(a) to assist in mitigating the impact of floods, a volume of airspace may be maintained which is no greater than that which will be refilled by storage inflows prior to a need to release from the storage to supply downstream requirements, and

Note: Subclause (a) means the storage can be reduced to a level that is sufficient for it to refill based on the minimum forecast recession inflows.

(b) downstream impact must be considered before releases to obtain airspace are made.

Note: Channel capacity constraints will be one of the factors considered in relation to subclause (b).

(2) Airspace operation of Blowering Dam water storage shall be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Blowering Airspace Deed, to which the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation and the Snowy Hydro Limited are party.

Note: The Blowering airspace deed requires an airspace volume of up to 190 gigalitres, as advised by Snowy Hydro Limited, for the purpose of emergency power generation. The volume of any releases made specifically to provide the advised airspace, up to the advised airspace limit, will be reserved in Snowy Hydro storages, and is subsequently available to the Department of Land and Water Conservation.