Major Projects

What's in place?

Murrumbidgee River Extraction

What is it?

The use of water from the Murrumbidgee River commenced in May 2007 from a location near the Cotter Pumping Station as an additional water supply to the ACT’s depleted water storages.

The Murrumbidgee River is one of Australia’s major rivers and many communities use it as their water source. For decades, major towns upstream and downstream of Canberra, such as Cooma and Wagga Wagga, have drawn water from the Murrumbidgee River, treated and safely used it for drinking.

Many of the world’s great rivers are used to provide drinking water, such as the Thames River in the UK, the Colorado River in the US and the Rhine River in Germany. Detailed health and scientific studies have shown that with appropriate treatment, water from such sources is safe to drink.

Responding to climate change and variability

In early 2007, the ACT was heading towards a critical time in water supply history. The combination of record low inflows into our dams, a hot and dry summer and higher than expected water consumption had resulted in the depletion of water storage levels to record lows.

A Contingency Plan had been developed in 2004 to provide additional water supply capacity as soon as practicable. The use of water from the Murrumbidgee River was one of the key contingencies identified.

How can it supplement supply?

The Murrumbidgee River flows through the ACT catchment boundary, and is available for extraction for the ACT community. Extraction commenced from a location near the Cotter Pumping Station in May 2007. This water is treated at the Mt Stromlo Water Treatment plant to Australian Drinking Water Standards. Long term modelling indicating that this contingency in conjunction with Stage 3 Water Restrictions could help the ACT avoid Stage 4 Water Restrictions. ACTEW has also proposed that an extraction point be developed near a location to be confirmed. For more information on the Murrumbidgee to Googong project, click here.