The Lower Loddon

The Lower Loddon
Sunday 15th August...Its flowing!!

Map

Map
Area of Concern

Under Construction

In time, additional information will be added to this site to inform those of you who are interested in restoring some flow to the Lower Loddon River in North Central Victoria.

The Lower Loddon is defined by this site as the section of river between the Fernihurst weir and Kerang in Northern Victoria..

Decisions to cut off this section of river from flow and divert all water down the irrigation channels have been made by the water authority, and seem to be in conflict with the Native fish strategy as issued by the MDB.

A quick photographic survey of the river was undertaken in july 2010 just to start this conversation.

What is not clear is why no water flows down the Loddon river , and asks a question of the authorities that allowed it to happen.

What precedence does the abandonment of the Lower loddon set for the rest of the rivers that once thrived and contained different species of animals and fish.



Sunday, August 15, 2010

15th August, The Loddon Flows!! (now to save it from being turned off again)

The Loddon River at Loddon weir, Fernihurst, began to flow again today when the upper Loddon River went into  low flood with flows of 4.55mgl over the Lanncoorie weir measured on Friday 13th August 2010.



With low concrete weirs  in place at Bridgewater and Serpentine, there was no buffer in the system to take up, and those flood waters arrived at the Loddon weir last night at about midnight.
Today there was a stream of locals bringing down their kids to witness an event many of them has not seen before, water flowing through the weir and into the lower river,,lets hope they will see it again, and often..

Down stream of the Loddon weir there was significant flow at the Fernihurst Serpentine road bridge ( as you would expect considering what was happening just a few km upstream,



 the Boort bridge was a different story with clean water flowing through and not the red raging turbid water found at Fernihrst






but water had not yet reached the Gilmour's road bridge near the Macoorna channel and so no update photo was taken as it was the same as last week.

The challenge now is to keep the water flowing and nurse the river back to health.
It would of been amazing to think that this was an event orchestrated by the management, time will tell if they get the idea.

On a management issue, Environment Victoria conducted a healthy rivers seminar this weekend which i attended and will post information here to keep you informed.

Stay tuned for developments.

cheers

Ray...

its a day to smile.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Healthy Rivers Seminar, Seymour 14th August 2010

G'day everyone, just thought i would let you all know that i will be attending the Healthy Rivers seminar this weekend to push awarerness for the plight of the Loddon and lobby for something to be done.
Once i get back I will let you know how I went.

I emailed the farmers federation a few weeks ago to gain an insight into the issue from their perspective, but did not recwive a response...one day I hope to be in discussion with them as an ally to the cause.

Cheers

Ray