The Snowy Mountains Scheme was a major infrastructure project in Australia that significantly altered the natural flow of the Snowy River. Between 1955 and 1967, the project diverted nearly all of the river’s water westward, reducing the flow to less than 1 percent of its natural level. Today, the official goal is to restore 21 percent of the river’s annual average natural flow, which amounts to 212 billion liters per year. This effort began in 2002 with mandatory environmental releases designed to help the river recover by creating a channel, oxygenating the water, and reconnecting the ecosystem. According to a note from the New South Wales government, after the Snowy Mountains Scheme was completed, less than 1 percent of the river’s natural flow continued along its original path. Only one liter out of every 100 followed the original course, while the rest was redirected westward. The scheme’s main function is to divert the headwaters of the Snowy, Eucumbene, and Murrumbidgee rivers across the Great Divide, discharging the water into the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. This water supports agriculture in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The Snowy Mountains Scheme has been managed by a company for nearly 70 years under a license from the New South Wales government. Research by Australian universities has shown that the original release rules from the Jindabyne Dam, established in the 1960s, focused only on electricity generation and the areas downstream of the divide, not on the original river. At a point further along the river, at Dalgety, the flow is measured at 4 percent of the natural average. However, this still means that 96 liters out of every 100 are missing from the original flow. Environmental releases aim to create a narrower channel in the riverbed, improve oxygen levels in the water, and allow the movement of food and animals downstream. However, the goal is not to fully restore the river to its original state—21 percent is still significantly less than the natural flow. The first environmental release occurred in August 2002, 35 years after the construction period ended in 1967. In the intervening years, the river had adapted to the reduced flow, and irrigation systems had developed around the diversion. Authorities now aim to recover some of this water from western irrigation areas, allowing the Snowy River to regain a portion of what had been redirected for agriculture.