Murray system seasonal determination reaches 100% high-reliability water shares

Determination Data

Seasonal determinations for northern Victoria regulated river systems.

Further Information

The Resource Manager for northern Victoria today announced increased 2015/16 seasonal determinations for all systems.

The Murray system increases by two per cent to 100 per cent high-reliability water shares (HRWS). The Goulburn system increases by three per cent to 90 per cent HRWS. The Loddon system increases by six per cent to 80 per cent HRWS.

The Broken system increases by one per cent to 26 per cent HRWS and the Campaspe system increases by two per cent to 64 per cent HRWS. The Bullarook system increases by two per cent to eight per cent HRWS.

“Today’s increases come from the rains across northern Victoria in early February,” said Resource Manager Dr Mark Bailey.

“Inflows to the major storages increased slightly, while evaporation and river losses were lower than expected. These changes freed water for seasonal determinations.”

With the Murray system’s seasonal allocation reaching 100% HRWS, the Resource Manager will start repaying water borrowed from the Barmah Forest account.

“Water was borrowed from the Barmah Forest to improve early seasonal determinations for high-reliability water shares,” said Dr Bailey. “Reserves for 2016/17 will start when all the borrowed water in the Murray system is repaid.”

Trading Opportunities

The Goulburn system’s inter-valley trade (IVT) account owes about 65 GL to the Murray system on February 15. 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.

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 155 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.

Upcoming Resource Manager Announcements

• The next 2015/16 seasonal determination announcement will be released on Tuesday, March 1, 2016.

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 http://www.mdba.gov.au/managing-water/water-sharing.

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

Details of the February to April rainfall outlook are available from www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks and seasonal streamflow forecasts are available at http://www.bom.gov.au/water/ssf/index.shtml.