Environmental Flows Guidelines

Releasing extra water into our waterways to keep our aquatic ecosystems healthy is an important part of water management in the ACT.

These 'environmental flows' replace the natural flows that may be missing because our water supply dams stop it entering the streams, or during times of drought.

We need environmental flows because fish feed, breed, spawn and migrate in response to natural flow patterns. Flow patterns determine the shape of stream channels, how different stream habitats connect to each other and what plants and animals occur.

Every five years the ACT Government revises the Environmental Flow Guidelines, which set out how much water we release - and when.

Consultation on the 2018 Draft Environmental Flow Guidelines closed on 17 August 2018.