"The Corporation's recommissioning of the Mowamba River aquaduct has deprived the Snowy River of a natural source of flow and a connection to its upper catchment at a time when it has been showing huge improvements in health. The continued connection to the Mowamba is vital in the overall plan for this iconic River's recovery," said TEC natural areas campaigner Fran Kelly.

"Even this relatively tiny 6% of freely flowing water was too much for the Snowy Corporation to accept in its eagerness to own every last drop prior to privatisation" said Ms Kelly.

"For decades the Snowy Hydro, has taken all but 1% of the Snowy River's flows from above Jindabyne – turning this once deep and mighty river into a drain. It still can't see the value in allowing a small amount of water to bypass its dam for the sake of the river, despite all the visible and scientific evidence of its benefits"

"The support for this by the NSW Government is also shameful, considering the fanfare that accompanied its announcement of the Mowamba aquaduct decommissioning and the huge sums of money that have been poured into works accompanying the flow improvements,"

The Total Environment Centre is talking with other concerned organisations about the many options open to challenging the decision.

"This won't be the end of the matter. Too much time and effort and support went into clawing back environmental flows for the Snowy," said Ms Kelly.