EXCLUSIVE: THE Snowy River's thirst will be quenched with a 152,000-megalitre drink next season.

The massive surge is the biggest flow of water down the river since its million-megalitre flow was diverted by the Snowy Hydro Scheme to the Murray-Darling Basin in 1967.

The NSW Office of Water, in consultation with the Snowy Scientific Committee, plans to release 84,000 megalitres of the water in just 19 days to mimic the spring surge that once flowed down the river.

The flows are the result of a historic $425 million agreement between the NSW, Victorian and Federal Governments to buy and save 212,000 megalitres of water in the Murray-Darling Basin that could be returned to the Snowy River.

Another 70,000 megalitres was recovered to boost Murray River environmental flows.

The joint-government entity responsible for recovering water for the Snowy - Water for Rivers - has so far recovered 233,000 megalitres of basin water entitlements.

NSW Water Commissioner David Harriss said up until last season the drought had kept allocations against the Snowy's entitlement to a minimum.

"However this season's high inflows have delivered 222,000 megalitres of allocation water against the 233,000 megalitres of Water for Rivers entitlement, with 70,000 megalitres going to boost the basin's environmental flows (in 2011-12)," Mr Harriss said.

He said scientists from the NSW Office of Water would closely monitor the outcomes of the Snowy releases, particularly the effect of the scouring flows on removing algae and silt from the river bed.

NSW Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said drought-breaking rain across eastern Australia had meant all environmental entitlements from water purchases and water-saving projects in the basin's rivers could now be used to deliver water to the Snowy.

"These long awaited releases will be a real boost for the community and the river," she said.

Snowy River Alliance spokeswoman Louise Crisp said returning the river to 15 per cent of its natural flows was "a bloody good improvement" on the 4 per cent trickle that had been flowing down the river's upper reaches since 1967.