The purpose of the dam includes water management and conservation, with much of the impounded headwaters diverted to Lake Eucumbene.

Commenced in 1958 and completed in 1960, the Tantangara Dam is located on the Murrumbidgee River, approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) downstream of its confluence with Gurrangorambla Creek and is wholly within the Kosciuszko National Park.

The SWI provides three main environmental water programs as part of rebalancing the impacts of the Snowy Hydro Scheme on montane rivers.

The SWIOID 2002 provides for SHL to forego up to 150 gigawatt hours (GW h) of electricity generation to allow for environmental releases to be made to SMRIF.

The BPF has some key components, these being: The Base Passing Flow releases typically occur during drier weather.

[5] The SWIOID 2002 identifies a target of 27 GL (i.e. 30% of the Mean Annual Natural Flow- MANF) in a full allocation scenario.

Over the period 2005 to 2018, an average of 17.7 GL per year of environmental water has been released to the upper Murrumbidgee River.

The committee claimed that there was an apparent "administrative and managerial void", with no river management strategy and no proper monitoring because of a lack of regulatory resources.

[10] In 2005, the Australian Capital Territory Government explored the options of augmenting water supply for Canberra by developing a long tunnel alternative including weir, connecting tunnel, outflow pipes, and hydro-power plant construction to link the Murrumbidgee with Corin Reservoir; and/or a Murrumbidgee River flow alternative including weir, pumping station and pipeline construction to link the Murrumbidgee with Googong Reservoir.