Rainfall Welcome, But Not Enough to Increase Allocations

Determination Data

Seasonal determinations for northern Victoria regulated river systems.

Further Information

Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW) today announced that allocations remain at 0% across all regulated water systems in northern Victoria, despite rainfall during the past fortnight.

"Most of our catchments received some rainfall during the past fortnight, but little inflow has occurred as the catchments were extremely dry beforehand," said G-MW Managing Director David Stewart.

"We hope we are seeing the start of a much wetter period. The rainfall was welcome, but much more is needed to generate the inflows to overcome our current serious water shortage," said Mr Stewart.

G-MW's 1 July 2008 opening allocation announcement indicated there is enough water for essential human needs in all systems, but substantial winter and spring inflows are needed to meet system operating requirements.

Access to Carryover

In systems where carryover applies, entitlement holders who did not use their full allocation last season will have their carryover automatically calculated and credited to their allocation bank accounts in accordance with the carryover rules.

Mr Stewart stated, "There isn't enough water to meet the operating requirements of the channel networks and some river systems for the whole season. As G-MW has said previously, we can't provide access to carryover until the delivery systems are operational. At present, only customers diverting directly from the Goulburn and Murray river systems downstream of the storages can use their carryover."

Irrigation Season

"The start date for gravity channel operations remains uncertain," said Mr Stewart. "The availability of water resources and customer demand for irrigation will determine the opening date for each channel network."

Good follow-up rain and inflows into storage are now essential in order to meet the current shortfall in operating requirements. "Once the system operating requirements are fully met, we can begin making allocations for the coming season," said Mr Stewart.

Qualification of Rights

The Minister for Water has qualified rights to water to allow supplies for essential needs under the extreme conditions currently affecting northern Victorian water systems. Further details of the qualifications are available from G-MW's website (http://www.g-mwater.com.au/), newsletters and advertisements in local media.

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Media Contact:            Graeme Hannan

Position:                      Executive Manager Planning and Environment

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