Final Allocations for 2009/10 Season Announced

Determination Data

Seasonal determinations for northern Victoria regulated river systems.

Further Information

Goulburn-Murray Water (G‑MW), the resource manager for northern Victorian water systems, today announced the final seasonal allocations for 2009/10.

The allocation in the Murray system is 100% of high-reliability water shares (HRWS), an improvement of 22% (HRWS). The allocation in the Goulburn system increased by 2% HRWS to be 71% HRWS and the Broken system allocation rose by 4% HRWS to be 17% HRWS. The allocations in the Loddon and Bullarook systems were unchanged at 3% HRWS and 19% HRWS respectively. The Campaspe system remained at zero allocation.

"The Murray system allocation reaching 100% HRWS this season is welcome news," said Graeme Hannan, G-MW's Resource Manager. "Today's allocation increase has been made possible by improvements in upper Murray water availability and the important contributions from the Darling River flows making their way through the northern part of the Murray-Darling Basin towards the Menindee Lakes. This season's Darling River flows are the highest in a decade. The Menindee Lakes will revert to Murray-Darling Basin Authority control in mid April, thereby providing increases in water availability to Victoria."

Discussing the final allocations for the other systems, Mr Hannan said, "The improvements in the Goulburn and Broken systems were the result of minor inflows and operating efficiency gains under the influence of recent light rainfall across those catchments. The final allocation in the Goulburn system is the best since 2005/06. The Broken, Loddon and Bullarook systems have received only small allocations, but the first since 2007/08. Unfortunately, the Campaspe system has had another bad season."

The volume of water available to irrigators in the Murray and Goulburn systems is significantly more than has been available for many years at this time of the season. It is expected that more water will be carried over than in the past, providing better prospects for next season. "With this being the final allocation for the 2009/10 season, all improvements from now will be reserved to meet next season's commitments," Mr Hannan said. "We still need to build reserves to meet next season's operating requirements, so the outlook for allocations and operating conditions to deliver carryover again depends on future inflows."

Goulburn-Murray Water will issue an updated outlook for the 2010/11 season on Monday 17 May 2010.