Tamworth water supply: Chaffey Dam still on the rise after two months of water sharing with Peel Valley irrigators

Peel Valley irrigators are sitting on a 20 per cent allocation for their general security licences, but wet conditions in the catchment mean the plug has largely stayed in Chaffey Dam.

About 3ML per day is usually released for environmental reasons, and since allocations came back in January, there hasn't been a huge change.

Most commonly, between 3-4ML of water has been released from Chaffey Dam daily, since the start of the year.

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The main difference has been two block releases towards the end of January, where 194ML was released one day, followed by 117ML the next.

Chaffey Dam started the year at 41.15 per cent full and had risen to 42.4 per cent by March 9.

The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) confirmed to the Leader that irrigators can get their fill of water without always releasing it from the dam, if there is enough floating around in tributaries and the Peel River.

DPIE has been reassessing conditions monthly and an updated statement will come this month.

Tamworth has also not been using Chaffey Dam, with water still being drawn from the small Dungowan Dam and the Peel River pumps.

Dungowan Dam was sitting at 88 per cent on Tuesday.

The Namoi Valley water allocation didn't change significantly this month, with general security remaining at 39.3 per cent allocation.

Lake Keepit has risen to more than 40 per cent full, and there's enough water in Split Rock Dam to shore up Manilla and Barraba supplies for the next two years.

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