Govt awards Barwon-Darling River plan contract

The New South Wales Government has awarded the contract for an engineering company to develop a 20 year strategic plan to secure the Barwon-Darling River system.

The Minister for Natural Resources, Ian Macdonald, says it will be one of the most significant water savings projects carried out in NSW.

He says the river system is in crisis and the worst drought in memory means Broken Hill has only 18 months supply left in the Menindee Lakes system.

Mr Macdonald says the engineering firm Maunsell Australia will work on ways of reducing losses through evaporation.

"The concentration on the program, it's to develop strategies, both infrastructure and management, that can reduce the massive evaporation through the operation of the lakes," he said.

"In some years it can reach 750 gigalitres of water, that's one-and-a-half times Sydney Harbour, but on average there's an estimate of 465 gigalites, just under one Sydney Harbour. That's an enormous amount of water."