Buronga Low River 9th June – 5th July 2026

“Essential maintenance works at the Mildura Weir will start on June 9 after the King’s Birthday long weekend, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) and Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) announced today.

The works will see the river level in the weir pool gradually lowered and Lock 11 closed to the public until July 5.

The maintenance works occur every two years at the weir and are essential to support the communities and industries that depend on the reliable operation of the river infrastructure.

GMW General Manager Water Storage Services Jon McKeown said the works would take about four weeks to complete, including five days to lower the weir pool and five days to refill it.”

https://www.g-mwater.com.au/news-updates/notices/maintenance-works-at-mildura-weir-to-start-in-june.html

 

Planned Timelines for Buronga Pump Station

09 June                    Weir pool lowering starts

09-15 June               Supply will gradually decrease until pump station shut down.

15-18 June                Low-river pump installed and online.

18 Jun – 02 Jul       Low-river operations, maximum pump station supply 100L/s.

02 July                      Pump station shut down, low river pump removed.

03-05 July                Pump station supply gradually increased to normal capacity.

 

• By Monday 15th June we expect the river to have fallen sufficiently for Buronga pump station to be shut down and have the low river pump installed.

This date will be flexible and will be based on the height of the river which we will be monitoring closely.

• The low river pump is expected to take 2-4 days to install and test.
• The removal of the low river pump will take 1-4 days, depending on how fast the river returns to normal level.

 

Considerations for Irrigators

• Once the low river pump is commissioned, the output from Buronga pump station will be reduced to around 100L/s (8.6ML Day), until the river has returned to normal level on 05 July.
• There is a point where the river drops sufficiently to stop all pumps but not low enough to install low river pump, this will be monitored closely to minimise total shut down time.
• Irrigation times may have to be altered to utilise the 100L/s restricted flow.
• With 100L/s restriction this flow may be needed at the same time of the day by several irrigators for frost protection on certain crops.

We would suggest where possible, for irrigators not requiring frost protection, to avoid normal irrigation during frost prone times.