Kevin Malone's family has farmed on the verdant banks of the Tumut River in southern New South Wales for 170 years, but he is deeply concerned that the legacy is at risk due to the current management of the waterway.
In the last few weeks, Snowy Hydro has been called on to increase its production from its Tumut 3 Power Station, about 40 kilometres from Mr Malone's dairy farm on the Tumut Plains.
Snowy Hydro has said on its website that it is significantly constrained due to current water levels in Blowering Dam, the Water NSW-managed dam from which the Tumut River flows, and the final storage in the company's Tumut section of the Snowy scheme.
Due to recent heavy rain, Blowering has almost reached full capacity, but in order for Snowy Hydro to make power out of Tumut 3 Power Station it has to pump water that ends up in the reservoir.
Snowy Hydro said it is possible that Blowering Reservoir will fill and spill, potentially exceeding the Tumut River channel capacity.
There is a chance that there will be an inundation of low-level causeways and water breaking out of the river channel onto agricultural land adjacent to the river. Malone said he was worried.
He said the river is currently running at capacity.
Following months of rain in the region, there was a minor spill out of the dam last year, but in 2010 there was extensive flooding following dam releases, which Mr Malone fears will happen again.
We'll be severely impacted trying to run our dairy cows to pasture and to try and access feed that we have located on our flats. He said that there's going to be huge pasture derogation, fencing issues.
The forecast fluctuations in the river's levels coincide with the imminent start of the new irrigation season - when water is released from the dam to help water crops in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in the state's south-west.
I'm worried as hell. "I think we're going to get flooded," Malone said.
I think it's almost unavoidable, especially with the extra situation of the power generation requirements.
Snow melt will cause a lot of water, and I can't see that we won't have a big issue unless Snowy Hydro can keep their water up in Eucumbene instead of letting it flow through, and Water NSW letting the water out of Blowering will cause a lot of water. As of Monday, Water NSW reported that Blowering Dam was more than 97 per cent full.
The dam is one of the biggest in the state and can hold more than three times the capacity of Sydney Harbour.
There should have been more planning and consultation with landholders about the situation, according to Malone.
Blind Freddie could've seen the level of water in Blowering Dam and was just asking for trouble, he said.
There should have been more releases out of Blowering sooner to cater for the releases out of the Snowy Hydro scheme.
Water NSW released more than 1,740 gigaliters of water, more than the entire volume of Blowering Dam in the first half of the year, in consultation with councils, landholders and airspace reference panels.
Water NSW continues to work with the NSW government and Snowy Hydro to maximize the availability of Blowering Dam to support hydropower generation while balancing the risk for downstream communities.