ONLY a significant downpour in the next few weeks will cause Dartmouth Dam to spill for the first time since 1996.

That is despite solid rain across the Border, North East and Alpine areas during the past three days.

More than 36 millimetres of rain had fallen in Albury-Wodonga up until 9am this morning, compared to 81 millimetres at Falls Creek and 80.4 millimetres at Mount Hotham.

Dartmouth Dam manager Peter Liepkalns said it was not nearly enough rain to force a spill.

“It’s (a) very slim (chance of spilling) even with this rain; only very heavy follow-up rainfall would possibly make it spill,” Mr Liepkalns said.

“Our catchment areas have dried up significantly in the past two weeks.”

Since the rain started on Tuesday afternoon the dam has gone from releasing 2400 megalitres to 3000 megalitres of water to keep up with the inflows.

It is a positive for the dam hydro station, which is producing 174 megawatts of power a day for power company AGL.

Watch Howard Jones' report from his recent visit to the Dartmouth Dam.

Press play to watch the video (iPhone app users can tap the 'Videos' tab).

NSW State Water asset team leader Tim Tanner said he would continue to release water from the Hume Dam based on irrigation demands.

“There’s only 3000 megalitres being released from Dartmouth, that’s not a significant amount,” Mr Tanner said.

“Inflow into the (Hume) dam is roughly 8000 megalitres per day and we’re releasing just over 7000 megalitres.

“Our discharge is based on irrigation demands and that’s ranged from 7000 to 20,000 megalitres over the past two weeks.”

The Hume Dam is sitting just above 95 per cent capacity.

The Bureau of Meteorology said rain was likely to ease today.

Duty forecaster Richard Russell said the Border would, at most, receive 50 millimetres of rain in the most recent downpours.

Wangaratta-based long-range forecaster John Moore said there was a 40 per cent chance of a big rain event in two weeks and another one in early December.