Cubbie Station, located on the Culgoa River,[4] is situated adjacent to a large diversion channel which permits the farm, under licence to store 460,000 megalitres (16,000×10^6 cu ft) of river water.

[5] According to downstream farmers in 2008, large cotton farms, such as Cubbie Station, have reduced the traditional flow of the Culgoa River by one third.

[6] By 2009, downstream farmers were claiming that due to upstream water entitlements on the Culgoa River, since 2000, the Lower Balonne floodplain had not received enough water to flood the plains.

Prior to the granting of these rights, the Lower Balonne River flooded every two or three years; impacting the sustainability of flora, fauna, birdlife, and economic returns from grazing livestock and cropping.

[8] The river flows through the Culgoa Floodplain National Park and the Culgoa National Park, located respectively north and south of the border between Queensland and New South Wales, west of Goodooga.