The Macquarie–Castlereagh valley covers more more than 91,000 square kilometres in the north of New South Wales. The catchment extends from the Blue Mountains to the Barwon River Plains, with major tributaries including the Cudgegong, Talbragar and Bell rivers.
The valley is home to the iconic Macquarie Marshes – one of the largest semi-permanent wetland systems and colonial waterbird breeding sites in inland Australia.
Key outcomes
The 2020–21 water year continued the recovery of the Macquarie–Castlereagh river system from the record drought that occurred from 2017 to 2020.
Water for the environment was used to boost natural flows to improve environmental recovery from August 2020 to March 2021. Key outcomes included:
- providing flows to support the breeding of Murray cod and freshwater catfish in the mid-Macquarie River
- the inundation of parts of the core of the Macquarie Marshes for vegetation and waterbirds to benefit the recovery of wetland vegetation.