Menindee+Lakes

**hahah lol ** **Sim and jacq were here ** **Menindee Lakes, NSW, Australia**
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Location of Menindee Lakes: [|smith mountain lake fishing guide]

- Menindee Lakes are located approximately 110km from Broken Hill in New South Wales. - Located on the Darling River, and is about 200km upstream from the junction of the Darling River and the Murray River. - The nearest town to the lakes is Menindee, and the nearest city is Broken Hill.

**Geographic Characteristics of the Menindee Lakes / town of Menindee:** - lakes were discovered in 1835 by Major Thomas Mitchell. The Menindee Lakes full supply level is about 1,600GL - The Menindee Lakes have not been full since 1999/2000 - Is currently bone dry due to major drought in Menindee. (has been dry since 2002) - It is estimated to take 3-4 years to fill up again. - Salinity has increased so much that there is nothing left on the lakes but sand, saltbush and dead trees. - Menindee's water is said to be undrinkable. - A very arid region, with the town of Menindee only receiving an annual rainfall amount of 243.7mm. - The Menindee Lakes are considered to hold more than 3 times the volume of the Sydney Harbour when full. - The lakes included the following fish: Murray Cod, Silver Perch, Golden Perch and Catfish. - Menindee/Menindee Lakes is a flat area - no nearby hills, mountains, etc. - Menindee is a small country town with a population of only 980 people. - Menindee is surrounded by citrus orchards and vegetable cultivation. - was a great tourist attraction; tourists used the use the lakes to ski, sail, swim, fish, etc. - A water storage project was completed in the 1960's which supplied farms and orchards which supply the town of Menindee with numerous crops such as grapes, rockmelons, tomatoes and apricots.



**Past Issues/Conflicts with the Menindee Lakes:** - Was said to have always been an unreliable source of water - because Menindee is such an arid region, evaporation rates are said to be very high. - Since the lake has dried up the lake has had low inflows of water. - In 2001, the lake was used for the following reasons:  - These uses of the Menindee Lakes came to a total of 1, 690, 000 megalitres, which, during the same time period, only had a total inflow of 228, 000 megalitres. - This caused the Lakes to dry up completely by 2002.
 * Releases for Murray-Darling Basin Commission (to South Australia & Lake Victoria) - 1, 090, 000 megalitres Releases for New South Wales purposes (town water, irrigation, etc..) - 88, 000 megalitres   Evaporation and seepage losses - 512, 000 megalitres

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">**Who was effected by these issues?** - the town of Menindee has had a limited supply of water since 2002, and still continues to decrease. - People did not use the water that came out of their taps anymore, as it was so salty and muddy that it ruined hot-water systems, killed off plants and gave children rashes. - No longer a major tourist attraction; the Lakes and the town used to attract hundreds of tourists from across Australia, who visited the lakes for skiing, swimming and fishing. - Other surrounding areas are affected by these water issues, as the Menindee Lakes used to supply other areas and towns with water.



<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">**Links:** <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">[|http://www.smh.com.au/news/New-South-Wales/Menindee/2005/02/17/1108500197639.html**http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:Q_Rg4qXmWmsJ:www.statewater.com.au/watdel/infpap20061.pdf+menindee+lakes+issues&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=au] http://www.dnr.nsw.gov.au/care/water/rural_water_mngmt/pdfs/menindee2002paper1.pdf http://www.visitnsw.com/town/Menindee/Menindee_Lake_System/info.aspx http://www.smh.com.au/news/water/answers-in-the-sky-but-its-not-rain/2007/11/23/1195753310083.html