Gigalitres of water are being released from Burrunjuck dam to make room for more, as dam managers look forward to a rainier-than-average spring season.
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WaterNSW's Adrian Langdon said the surplus of rain was positive news for drought-stricken communities, but that it meant they would need to maintain a difficult balancing act to prevent towns from flooding.
Mr Langdon said they would need to release enough water to prevent a potential dam spillage, while not releasing more than the rain-sodden Burrinjuck catchment can handle.
"We don't want to exacerbate a flood-prone river system downstream of the dam by adding too much water to the existing, naturally-occurring tributary flows," Mr Langdon said.
"Conventional wisdom has it that all the water in the river originates from the dam - especially during a flood event - but this overlooks the major contribution of downstream tributaries."
In August more than 470,000 megalitres flowed into the dam, raising the levels from 46 per cent to 82 per cent in a matter of weeks.
Blowering dam along the Tumut river is sitting at 77 per cent, which is not far off from the levels they were at in 2016 when a dam spillage caused mass flooding across the region.
Farmer and Snow Valley mayor James Hayes said farmers were anxious not to see floods ruin the spring season, which was shaping up to be a good one for a change.
"The last thing we want is flooding, so hopefully the predictions from the weather bureau are accurate and we don't end up with a bob-tail spring," Councillor Hayes said.
"We've seen all sorts of weather patterns, so it would be good to return to normalcy."
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He said his own crops were looking "exceptional" heading into germination season, and that farmers around the region were looking forward to a relatively normal season.
Cr Hayes said a lot was riding on this season, with farmers looking to recoup some of the losses made during the floods, droughts, and bushfires.
"We've got vineyards who are hoping for a better season next year and also the orchadists and berry farmers who were impacted by fires, so hopefully they all will do well," Cr Hayes said.
"I'm looking forward to a good season. Commodity prices have seen a steady increase, so it's good to see realistic prices for a change. We just need wool prices to pick up and then it's happy days."