Macquarie–Castlereagh | Storages, rivers, river diagram, water quality, groundwater bores, allocations and trading information

Water catchments in the Murray–Darling Basin

Search for a town, storage, river or river gauge

Select a Basin area or catchment

chart types

Murray–Darling Basin -

About this map

Map of the Murray–Darling Basin region within Australia. It shows the catchments that we provide data for, within the Basin area.

Each catchment on the map can be selected to display related information. This information can also be accessed using the Select a Basin area or catchment control above the map.

The map shows storages, river gauges and groundwater bores across the Basin. Data for each includes:

storage volume as a percentage of capacity (current and same time last year) and current megalitre amount.
river gauge flow, height and quality.
groundwater bore depth to water (current and beginning of season) and quality.

If you need assistance to access any content on this website, contact accessibility@bom.gov.au or call 03 9669 4000.

Loading.....

Water information for

Return to Murray–Darling Basin

About Macquarie-Castlereagh catchment

this is an image of the position of the catchment in the Murray–Darling Basin

7% of the total Murray–Darling Basin area.

8.4% contribution to Basin water.

Tributaries

Fish, Campbell, Cudgegong, Turon, Bell, Little and Talbragar rivers; Mulla Mulla Cowal; Ewenmar and Marthaguy creeks.

Major towns

Coonabarabran, Coonamble, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Narromine, Warren, Nyngan.

First Nations

Wiradjuri, Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wailwan and Gamilaroi.

Water use

The catchment supports a diverse range of industry including agriculture, agribusiness, tourism, mining and viticulture. Extensive livestock grazing accounts for 70–80% of the land area in the catchment. The largest agricultural use of water in the valley is for cotton, downstream of Dubbo. Other significant irrigated crops in the region include lucerne, cereals, oilseed, wheat, vegetables and fruit. Irrigated agriculture accounts for less than 5% of land use in the catchment but makes up about 25% of production. The Macquarie–Castlereagh catchment is also home to internationally significant wetlands, the Macquarie Marshes.

Attribution:

Water management of the Macquarie–Castlereagh catchment - Murray–Darling Basin Authority

Water availability

Find out how much water is currently stored in the Macquarie-Castlereagh catchment. You’ll also find details on how much water is available, allocated and used for each category of use. For detailed volume for each major storage, weir and lock, see Storages if applicable.