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Water Minister Peter Walsh today toured Lindsay Island, in north-west Victoria, to inspect environmental engineering works that will achieve significant water savings for the Murray-Darling Basin.
Mr Walsh said the works would allow the inundation of thousands of hectares of natural floodplain using far less water than would normally be required.
“Lindsay Island is an example of how water savings in the Murray-Darling Basin can be achieved through efficiency works and not by taking water from irrigators,” Mr Walsh said.
“A natural flood at Lindsay Island requires high flows in the Murray River for an extended period, but the planned works will make it possible to deliver environmental benefits for the island using normal river flows.”
Lindsay Island is one of Victoria’s most ecologically significant floodplains and is situated on the Murray River, near the South Australian border.
Mr Walsh’s tour, with Member for Mildura Peter Crisp and Member for Rodney Paul Weller, included a first-hand look at the Lindsay Island Stage 1 works.
Stage 1 is a $7 million package of environmental engineering works that has been funded by the Victorian Government and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority as part of the Living Murray program.
The works will improve flows through more than 20 kilometres of Lindsay Island waterways and have significant benefits for native fish.
Detailed designs will be completed by June this year, with construction expected to begin in January 2013 to avoid working in the spring, when many native fish species migrate and breed.
Mr Walsh was also briefed about the next stage of works at Lindsay Island, which will complement the Stage 1 works at a cost of approximately $43 million dollars.
Concept designs are currently being prepared for the second stage of works, using $1.1 million in funding from the federal government. 
The second stage will include construction of a large regulator across the Lindsay River to inundate the floodplain upstream, along with a number of smaller regulators to prevent water draining back to the Murray River to maximise environmental benefits.
“The Stage 2 works at Lindsay Island will replicate the environmental benefits of a small to medium sized natural flood, but using far less water,” Mr Walsh said.
The tour will also include a brief overview of works planned for nearby Wallpolla Island that will help deliver environmental water. These works are currently in the early stages of design.