Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
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site specific
region wide
Improving water quality at Thegoa Lagoon
Wentworth Mayor Margaret Thomson with a project sign
Lagoon bed and shoreline
Lagoon regulator on Murray River, just above Lock 10
Location, location, location. Thegoa Lagoon is positioned at the join of the Murray and Darling Rivers at Wentworth in New South Wales. An ideal location, one might imagine, given the natural summer/autumn flooding of the Darling and winter/spring flooding of the Murray.
The lagoon was once naturally connected at three points to these rivers and frequently flooded, but is now disconnected from the Darling by the Silver City Highway and connected via two man-made structures to the Murray. One is a pipe regulator at the eastern end of the lagoon, the other a culvert downstream at the western end.
Water levels have tended to remain constant, which has damaged the wetland environment through the loss of natural water level fluctuations and seasonal drying.
So in 1998 a Water Management Plan was developed to help protect the wetlands, and forged the way for a range of activities to put the Plan into practice.
Funding
Since 2003/04 the Australian and State Governments have provided more than $400,000 in assistance for work through the Lower Murray Darling Catchment Management Authority.
Manager Lesley Palmer said they were targeting groundwater salinity risk, water management, wetland wetting and drying regimes, fish access and habitat, cultural heritage, land management and monitoring.
Activities
"A regulator has replaced a culvert at the western end of the lagoon for improved floodwater and native fish access," Lesley said.
"A wetting/drying regime for the lagoon will be reinstated, there will be improvements to bird and plant habitat, fishery management and monitoring of groundwater and salinity. We've also installed piezometer bores and built two kilometres of river fencing to restrict stock access."
Inflows to the lagoon are helping allow flooding during winter and spring as Murray River floodwaters naturally reach the area; partial draining of the lagoon as floodwaters recede; and slow drying of the residual water in the lagoon by evaporation and possibly controlled water extraction.
More information
- Lesley Palmer, Manager: (03) 5021 9460.
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