HEAVY spring rain in the north of the state could mean an increase in visitors to the Wimmera this summer.
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Wimmera Catchment Management Authority chief executive David Brennan believes tourists who usually go to the Murray River, might be forced to relocate.
“My feeling is that this year is shaping up to be similar to 2011,” he said.
“The last time there was quite a lot of water around, the Murray River ended up flowing pretty fast.
“This reduced a lot of the activities people could do there, such as water skiing, swimming and fishing and it meant we had additional people coming to the Wimmera for those activities.”
Mr Brennan said the Murray River was flowing hard at the moment.
“There is going to be a real opportunity for all the towns in the region to benefit from the water that is in our lakes,” he said.
Mr Brennan said it had been a year of feast and famine.
“We’ve gone from drought to floods,” he said.
“It’s always difficult to predict what the weather is going to be in such a dry spell but the Bureau of Meteorology were right this time with the seasonal outlook.”
Mr Brennan said water had also meant wildlife was flowing into Dock Lake for the first time since the late 1990s.
He said with Lake Wartook, Taylors Lake and Green Lake full, water was being diverted into Dock Lake to prevent floodwaters inundating farm land.
He said it was only a small trickle and he didn’t envisage the lake filling.
“We are already seeing environmental benefits and will be monitoring the changes the water will bring,” he said.
“If there is additional spring rain we will see more water go into the lake but for now there’s just a small amount.”
Green Lake resident Russell Peucker said Dock Lake used to provide valuable bird habitat and was considered one of the best wetlands and bird sanctuaries in the Wimmera.
Historically, Dock Lake was a natural wetland that would fill based on natural inflows before it became part of the headworks system.