Environmental flows in the Thomson River have temporarily been reduced through a qualification of rights as part of contingency measures for water supply throughout Melbourne during on-going drought conditions.

Contingency Arrangements

Under these arrangements environmental flows will be reduced by up to 10,000ML/year subject to strong environmental safeguards.  The reduction will be implemented through a reduction in the number of managed high flow releases and with the maintenance of passing flows at a reduced level to support critical ecological processes.

Managing Ecological Risk

An ecological risk assessment has facilitated the development of comprehensive monitoring and emergency contingency plans for the Thomson River. These emergency contingency measures will be brought into effect to minimise the impact of reducing flows in the Thomson River. 

The arrangements, as set out in the temporary qualification, will be subject to an annual review that will be conducted by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (WGCMA). 

Investment in River Health

The Thomson River qualification includes financial contributions from the Melbourne Water retailers to fund complimentary river health works and implementation of the monitoring plan.  Investment in river health works will focus on the ecological objectives at risk by the qualification in order to maintain resilience within the system and to contribute to broader on ground river health objectives.

The financial contribution will also be used to increase monitoring effort as detailed in the monitoring plan to enable WGCMA and Melbourne Water to act quickly to deal with any emerging environmental issues through measures such as providing fish breeding flows down the river.