Western region

The systems in the western region that can receive water from the VEWH’s environmental entitlements are Bochara-Bogara-Pawur (Glenelg River), the Wimmera River system and the Wimmera-Mallee wetlands. The Wimmera River system and Wimmera-Mallee wetlands are part of the Murray-Darling Basin.  Barringgi Gadyin (Wimmera River) ends in terminal lakes without directly flowing into the Murray River.

The Glenelg River rises in the Grampians and flows west through Harrow and then south to Casterton and Dartmoor for over 500 km, making it one of the longest rivers in Victoria. A short stretch of the estuary winds through South Australia before returning to Victoria to enter the sea at Nelson.

The Wimmera River rises in the Pyrenees Range near Elmhurst and flows through Horsham, Dimboola and Jeparit before terminating at Lake Hindmarsh, Victoria’s largest natural freshwater lake. The Wimmera River receives flows from several regulated tributaries including the MacKenzie River and the Mount William, Burnt and Bungalally creeks.

The Wimmera-Mallee wetlands system includes 51 wetlands that were formerly supplied by the Wimmera- Mallee channel system. The wetlands are all within the footprint of the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline project, which is bounded to the west and south by the Wimmera River and to the east by the Avoca River.

Water for the environment in the western region is supplied from the Wimmera-Mallee System Headworks, a series of on-stream reservoirs, off-stream storages and connecting channels that harvest water (mainly near the Grampians) and distribute it to entitlement holders throughout the Wimmera catchment and parts of the Avoca, Loddon, Glenelg and Mallee catchments.

The Wimmera and Glenelg systems share water available under the Wimmera and Glenelg Rivers Environmental Entitlement 2010, and the VEWH works with the Wimmera and Glenelg Hopkins CMAs to determine how available allocation will be used in each river system in a given year. Additional water is available to the Glenelg River as a compensation flow account.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) also holds entitlement in the Wimmera system that can be used to supply the Wimmera River and lower Mount William Creek systems. Water for the environment available to the Wimmera-Mallee wetlands is provided under the same entitlement but not shared with the Glenelg system. Instead, the water is available for use in small wetlands supplied by the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline across the Wimmera, Mallee and North Central CMA areas.

The Glenelg River supports the endangered Glenelg freshwater mussel and Glenelg spiny crayfish, as well as platypus and native fish including river blackfish, estuary perch and pygmy perch. The endangered Wimmera bottlebrush also grows along the Glenelg River.

The Wimmera River supports diverse vegetation and animal communities and is home to one of Victoria’s few self-sustaining populations of freshwater catfish as well as flat-headed gudgeon and Australian smelt.

The MacKenzie River has the only stable population of platypus in the Wimmera and supports the Glenelg spiny crayfish and turtles. Tributaries such as Burnt and Mount William creeks also support populations of native fish and threatened species. The tributaries, along with the Bungalally Creek, provide important habitat corridors and have good streamside vegetation.

The Wimmera-Mallee wetlands provide a variety of different wetland types across a dry landscape. They are home to many types of water-dependent plants, birds, turtles and frogs and also provide drought refuge and drinking holes for other native animals.