Water sustains all.

Even though you are surrounded by a billion litres of water, getting drinking water is not always as straightforward as one would expect. There are two main options, to use the river or town supplies. The former may not be safe in the hotter summer months due to blue-green algae outbreaks. If these get too bad, it may not even be safe to continue paddling on the river!

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River Water

Some locals do drink the water directly from the river in Kosciuszko National Park and between the Hume Dam and Albury. Having been sick after a water filter failed in Kosciuszko National Park, I would not recommend doing this!

The water tends to be fairly clear down to about Albury unless it is in flood. This makes it easy to treat the water without having to worry about a clarification step. Below Albury, I found I had to both clarify the water and then treat the water to make it safe. Below Albury and without clarification, I would only get maybe 1 L of water through my MSR Ceramic filter before I would have to clean it.

Refer to the Safety page for some of the issues related to drinking untreated water.

Refer to the Water Treatment page for various options on how you can clarify and treat water.

Blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria)

Blue-green algae is common in most freshwater systems, but some species are known to produce toxins that make the water unsafe to drink and even unsafe to touch in bad blooms. All of the major Australian rivers will have a risk and the Murray River is no exception. Blooms seem to be most common in the still waters between the Hume Dam and the SA border but they could occur anywhere along the river.

The national algal information line 1800 999 457 for known outbreaks by Water Quality Australia. The MDBA publishes monthly updates of key rivers and WaterNSW has a real-time alert map. Other states seem to delegate reporting to their local councils or provide alerts or signage when needed. None are overly useful for those traversing the entire river though as blooms are rare in SA having decent data from NSW should suffice.

In the event of an algae bloom, switch to town supply! There are no simple ways to remove Cyanobacteria toxins and each species has specific treatment requirements.

Alpine Water Sources

There were few creeks with running water above the Murray, when I passed through the area in the summer of 2019/20. Starting from the Alpine Way parking spot, I have noted below all of the main primary water sources and distances that I found:

Thredbo River (2.2 km)

After following the river upstream the crossing represents the last water before Cascade Creek.

Cascade Creek (6.5 km)

Decent flow, also accessible from Cascade Hut

Tin Mine Creek (33.9 km)

Decent flow

Murray River (15.8 km)

Slight flow seen from the spring at Cowombat Flat just above the track crossing, it was dry upstream.

Pilot Creek

This had a larger flow than the Murray at Cowombat Flat, ~1.5 km downstream along the Murray.

I managed to also find a few seeps across the track at times, but these were barely flowing. I managed to collect maybe a cup of water every 5 minutes from these. I'm not proud to say it, but I even had to dig for water once when I was severely dehydrated. I got maybe a half cup of polluted looking water that was enough to get me down to the next water source.

Town Supplies

Here is a list of various public water points that are known on the river. This does not include camping grounds, private homes, businesses or shops that will be able to provide additional water points.

Town(s)	Water Source			Distance
Upper Murray (above Bringenbrong Bridge)
Thredbo		Toilets	In park beside skate ramp in Village Green off Friday Drive
Lower Murray (below Bringenbrong Bridge)
Towong		None1		14 km
Tintaldra		None1		30 km
Jingellic		None11		40 km
Lake Hume Village		Tap	There is a tap beside the Hume Dam Lookout, 375 m detour.	129 km From Bringenbrong 199 km
		Unknown	Apex Park (The Pines) beside a boat ramp may have something.
Albury, NSW / Wodonga, VIC		Drinking Fountain	Beside the Mitta Mitta Canoe Club, Albury	26 km
Howlong, NSW		Tap	Memorial Park	65 km
Corowa, NSW / Wahgunyah, VIC		Toilets4	Tap and Toilets at Rowers Park Corowa	46 km
		Tap	Boat ramp and toilets 2 km downstream in Corowa. Tap beside a power pole.
Yarrawonga, VIC / Mulwala, NSW		Drinking Fountain4	Tap, drinking fountain and toilet in JW Purtle Reserve and Park. Foodworks nearby. Mulwala	81 km
		Toilets4	Tap and toilet in Apex Park. Mulwala
		Toilets4	Tap and toilet, The Owen Bridges Reserve and Boat Ramp. Mulwala
		Toilets	Maybe potable? Beside the main bridge. Yarrawonga
Cobram, VIC / Barooga, NSW		Tap	Cobram, beside picnic tables at beach downstream of the bridges	67 km
Tocumwal, NSW		Tap10	BBQ area over the levy near the pontoon / boat ramp	28 km
		Taps10	Tap around the council run Town Beach Caravan Park
Barmah, VIC		Unknown		121 km
Echuca, VIC / Moama, NSW		Tap	Tree in the Aquatic Reserve beside the Info Centre. (Tap key may be required sometimes5). Echuca	49 km
		Drinking Fountain5	Near the Thong Trees. Echuca
Torrumbarry Weir		Unknown		83 km
Barham, VIC / Koondrook, NSW		Tap	Barham foreshore by the bridge is labelled potable, but the water was cloudy and hot. Non-potable?	102 km
Swan Hill, VIC		Tap	Outside BBQ shelter near the 10 Steps and another just before the bridge. Two of four in Riverside Park.6	111 km From Echuca 296 km
Nyah, VIC		Unknown		52 km
Wood Wood, VIC		Unknown		14 km
Tooleybuc, NSW		Drinking fountain	Beside playground above pontoon	17 km From Swan Hill 83 km
Boundary Bend		Unknown		89 km
Robinvale		Toilets	Beside the boat ramp before the camping ground. Seems potable?	89 km From Tooleybuc 178 km
		Tap	The Arts Centre across the road from the boat ramp has a tap that seems potable.
Nangiloc		Unknown		147 km
Mildura, VIC / Buronga & Gol Gol, NSW		Drinking Fountain7	James King Park, Gol Gol	78 km From Robinvale 225 km
		Drinking Fountain	Fountain with tap on the waterfront; Splash park has another fountain, Mildura.9
Merbein, VIC		Unknown		15 km
Wentworth		Drinking Fountain7	Beside toilets, Junction Park	39 km From Mildura 54 km
Lock 9		Unknown		61 km
Lock 8		Unknown		39 km
Lock 7		Unknown		29 km
Lock 6		Unknown		77 km
Renmark		Drinking Fountain	Drinking Fountain beside the Info Centre. Other sources can be found near the Town Fountain () and also near Arthur Shepherd Lions Park ( downstream by boat ramp)8	52 km From Wentworth 258 km
Berri		Drinking Fountain2	North side of the visitor information centre (Riverview Drive)	42 km
Loxton		Tap3	At the four bay BBQ shelter, John Hamilton Memorial Lions Park	37 km
Moorook		Tap	Beside shed at waterfront downstream slightly of the boat ramp.	37 km
Waikerie		Toilets	It is worth checking the water park behind these for a fountain	70 km
Morgan		Toilets	Along road, just up past camping ground	64 km
Blanchetown		Tap	RV Dump by park off the river slightly. Below the lock. Track to tap.
Swan Reach		Unknown		29 km
Punyelroo		Unknown		5.4 km
Nildottie		Unknown		17 km
Wongulla		Unknown		8.7 km
Walker Flat		Unknown		8.4 km
Bowhill		Unknown		22 km
Mannum		Tap	Tap on a tree beside toilets.	35 km From Blanchetown 125 km
Murray Bridge		Drinking Fountain	Beside toilets near the Bunyip12	39 km
Tailem Bend		Unknown		25 km
Wellington		Unknown		13 km From Murray Bridge 38 km
Goolwa		Tap	Playground near the kids swim area on Barrage Rd, Goolwa. Another fountain is plained for Liverpool Rd near the public toilet in August 2021.13	65 km open water 85 km east shoreline

The locations are shown in the interactive map below:

Information Sources
Myself in the summer of 2020/21 unless otherwise indicated:
¹ Towong District Council, 2021
² Berri Barmera Council, 2021
³ Loxton Waikerie District Council, 2021
⁴ Federation Council, 2021
⁵ Campaspe Shire Council, 2021
⁶ Swan Hill Rural City Council, 2021
⁷ Wentworth Shire Council, 2021
⁸ Additional sources Renmark Paringa Council, 2021
⁹ Additional sources Mildura Rural City Council, 2011
¹⁰ Berrigan Shire Council, 2011
¹¹ Snowy Valleys Council, 2011
¹² Rural City of Murray Bridge Council, 2011
¹³ Alexandrina Council, 2011