Wet winter sees River Murray roar with unexpected flows and life

A wet winter across the southern Murray Darling Basin has increased flows at South Australia's border to approximately 22.5 gigalitres a day.

It is significantly more than SA has received in the previous two years.

The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) expects flows will reduce at the end of August, before increasing again in September.

Rain, hail or shine, Tasha Morath has made it routine to dive into the River Murray every day for about seven years.

As flows increase to the highest levels since flooding in 2022-23 , her daily swim has recently become more challenging.

"I can definitely feel the resistance at the moment but there are still really good conditions still for fishing, boating, kayaking, skiing and all those sorts of things," Ms Morath said.

"I just enjoy watching the pelicans come and go and they're happy at the moment.

"There's plenty of fish, probably carp, jumping in the water at the moment."

Approximately 22.5 gigalitres of water are flowing into South Australia every day at the moment, which has helped to revitalise the environment.

It is a stark contrast to August during the previous two years, when the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) announced flows of just 8 gigalitres a day in 2025 and 4 gigalitres in 2024 .

DEW water delivery manager Damian Rowley said SA had not seen flows this significant since flooding in 2022-23.

He said while this year's flows were not close to the level of the floods, they did show how significant the rainfall had been.

"This increased flow has been a big improvement because it was looking pretty dry at the start of this calendar year," Mr Rowley said.

The department updates the flow report weekly and expects it to recede in the coming weeks, before another boom heading into spring.