{"id":859609,"date":"2026-08-18T12:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859609\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T12:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:26:33","slug":"rain-brings-unexpected-flows-into-south-australias-river-murray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859609\/","title":{"rendered":"Rain brings unexpected flows into South Australia’s River Murray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rain, hail or shine, Tasha Morath has made it routine to dive into the River Murray every day for about seven years.<\/p>\n

As flows increase to the highest levels since flooding in 2022-23<\/a>, her daily swim has recently become more challenging.<\/p>\n

“I can definitely feel the resistance at the moment but there are still really good conditions still for fishing, boating, kayaking, skiing and all those sorts of things,” Ms Morath said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tasha Morath says her morning swim has become more difficult with the increased flows. (ABC Riverland: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n

“I just enjoy watching the pelicans come and go and they’re happy at the moment.<\/p>\n

“There’s plenty of fish, probably carp, jumping in the water at the moment.”<\/p>\n

Approximately 22.5 gigalitres of water<\/a> are flowing into South Australia every day at the moment, which has helped to revitalise the environment.<\/p>\n

It is a stark contrast to August during the previous two years, when the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) announced flows of just 8 gigalitres a day in 2025<\/a> and 4 gigalitres in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What’s next for the river in SA?<\/p>\n

DEW water delivery manager Damian Rowley said SA had not seen flows this significant since flooding in 2022-23.<\/p>\n

He said while this year’s flows were not close to the level of the floods, they did show how significant the rainfall had been.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Damian Rowley is reminding river users to be conscious of faster-moving water and potentially dangerous conditions. (Supplied: Department for Environment and Water)<\/p>\n

“This increased flow has been a big improvement because it was looking pretty dry at the start of this calendar year,” Mr Rowley said.<\/p>\n

“Increased flows are good environmentally; it’s got benefits for fish, frogs and flood plain connection.”<\/p>\n

The department updates the flow report weekly and expects it to recede in the coming weeks, before another boom heading into spring.<\/p>\n

“This most recent rainfall event across the Victorian tributaries will see us increase again through early September,” Mr Rowley said<\/p>\n

Locals welcome the water<\/p>\n

For Canoe the Riverland owner and operator Brenton Carle, the recent flows came as a bit of a surprise given the forecast El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> weather event.<\/p>\n

“The level of the river has gone up by probably 15 or 20 centimetres, which is fantastic for the ecosystem,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brenton Carle has been pleasantly surprised by the continued higher than usual flows coming into South Australia. (Supplied: Brenton Carle)<\/p>\n

“Turtles are breeding and laying eggs and everything’s looking really good.<\/p>\n

“You have your big yabby runs coming through, so there’s lots of animals for the kids to catch.”<\/p>\n

Mr Carle said the increased flows made the job of operating school camps in the backwaters of Renmark and Paringa easier.<\/p>\n

“When it starts to get a bit higher, it’s actually really good because it opens up creeks that we normally can’t get through,” Mr Carle said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

South Australia’s River Murray’s ecosystem has been revitalised by good rainfall and strong flows. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n

“Teachers that come back year on year, they’ve seen droughts, they’ve seen floods, they’ve seen a bit of everything.<\/p>\n

“When there’s some good flows coming down, they know they can have a bit of an easier trip.”<\/p>\n

More news from regional SA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rain, hail or shine, Tasha Morath has made it routine to dive into the River Murray every day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,429758,429756,429759,59808,75,429755,242385,75077,118994,128,429757],"class_list":["post-859609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brenton-carle","tag-damian-rowley","tag-department-environment-water","tag-el-nino","tag-environment","tag-environment-and-water","tag-flood-plain","tag-murray-darling-basin","tag-river-murray","tag-science","tag-tasha-morath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}