Water which otherwise would have been allocated to Toorale's irrigation licences will now be released at two sites in South Australia: Overland Corner Floodplain, near Kingston-on-Murray, and Markaranka Floodplain, near Waikerie.

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, said announced earlier this month that five sites in the MDB would share in seven billion litres of water purchased by the Commonwealth, most of it sourced from allocations against entitlements held by Toorale Station on the junction of the Darling and Warrego rivers.

"The New South Wales Government's audit of river flow data has identified an additional 1,236 million litres of water available for release to benefit stressed rivers and wetlands in the Basin," Senator Wong said.

"The additional water will be released at two sites in South Australia: Overland Corner Floodplain, near Kingston-on-Murray, and Markaranka Floodplain, near Waikerie.

"This brings to 9.4 billion litres the total of water released to the environment so far as a result of the water buyback being conducted through the Australian Government’s plan Water for the Future."

According to Senator Wong, Overland Corner Floodplain consists of large areas of River Red Gum and is a habitat known to support the nationally threatened Regent Parrot; the Great Egret which is listed under the bilateral agreement with China on the protection of migratory birds; and the nationally threatened Southern Bell Frog.

Watering is expected to help prevent permanent environmental damage including significant loss of mature River Red Gums and other flood-dependent vegetation and to provide a critical drought refuge for aquatic species.

The Overland Corner Floodplain will receive 500 million litres.

An additional 736 million litres for Markaranka Floodplain brings the total allocation (in addition to earlier watering) for Markaranka to 2,236 million litres.

The additional water will contribute to providing drought refuge for a variety of animals including rare duck species, and to avoiding the irretrievable loss of mature River Red Gum communities.