The towns of Albury and Wodonga are located on the NSW and Victorian sides respectively of the Murray River within the study area. Both towns are growing relatively rapidly in comparison to most inland regional centres. Careful land use planning is therefore required given ongoing development pressures within flood prone land areas. The Murray River catchment above Albury is located predominantly within the Great Dividing Range. Historical Murray River flooding has tended to occur within the late winter and spring months (August to November), although significant flooding outside this period can occur (e.g. July 1956, May 1974). The Murray River at Albury has a catchment area of 17,000 square kilometres. This includes the 1,650 square kilometre Kiewa River catchment which flows into the Murray River on the upstream side of Albury. There are no other significant tributary inflows within the study area.

There have been some significant infrastructure works undertaken on the Murray River floodplain at Albury since 2000. The Hume Freeway was completed in 2007. The Wodonga Rail Bypass was completed in 2010. Both are located on elevated embankments spanning the Murray River floodplain adjacent to Albury. Given the previous Murray River flood study at Albury was undertaken in 1984 and the recent floodplain infrastructure developments, the two local NSW councils considered it timely that a new study be undertaken using the now available two dimensional hydraulic modelling techniques.