Seasonal Determination update

Determination Data

Seasonal determinations for northern Victoria regulated river systems.

Further Information

The Resource Manager for northern Victoria today announced an increased 2015/16 seasonal determination in the Murray system.

The Murray system increases by two per cent to 92 per cent high-reliability water shares (HRWS).

Resource Manager Mark Bailey said the seasonal determinations in the Broken, Goulburn, Campaspe, Loddon and Bullarook systems remained unchanged.

“Inflows into the Murray system during the past fortnight have been slightly higher than forecast, which enabled today’s increase,” Dr Bailey said.

“Actual inflows and operating requirements in the other systems were very close to our assumptions, which left no room for any improvement to be announced today.”

Trading Opportunities

The Goulburn system’s inter-valley trade (IVT) account owes about 85 GL to the Murray system on December 1. The Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems can trade to the Victorian Murray system, New South Wales and South Australia while the total volume owed to the Murray system is less than 200 GL.

The Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems can trade from the Victorian Murray system, New South Wales and South Australia while the total volume owed to the Murray system is greater than zero.

Allocation trade from New South Wales to Victoria is limited to the lesser of a net annual volume of 200 GL or a volume that keeps the risk of spill in the Murray system below 50 per cent. The spill risk limit allows more than 200 GL of trade, and so the net annual volume of 200 GL applies unless advised otherwise.

Customers participating in the water trading market can monitor trade availability on the Water Register website, waterregister.vic.gov.au/water-trading/allocation-trading.  

Standard Murray-Darling Basin Authority policy prohibits the net trade of allocations from above the Barmah Choke to downstream to protect delivery of downstream water entitlements. However, there is currently about 190 GL of capacity available to trade from upstream to downstream. Customers can monitor trading opportunities across the Barmah Choke on the Murray-Darling Basin Authority website at www.mdba.gov.au/river-data/barmah-choke.

Upcoming Resource Manager Announcements

• The next 2015/16 seasonal determination announcement including an updated outlook will be released on Tuesday December 15, 2015.

For information about the Resource Manager for northern Victorian regulated water systems, including seasonal determinations, resource availability and carryover volumes, please visit www.nvrm.net.au. The status of Victorian shares of Murray storages is available at www.mdba.gov.au.

Information about El Niño is available from the Bureau of Meteorology at www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso.

Details of the December to February rainfall outlook and seasonal streamflow forecasts are available at www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks.