Seasonal determination increase for all systems

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 in the Murray, Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe, Loddon and Bullarook systems.

The Bullarook system has increased from zero per cent to four per cent of high-reliability water shares (HRWS).

The Murray system increases by six per cent to 82 per cent HRWS. The Goulburn system increases by three per cent to 72 per cent HRWS and the Loddon system increases from 54 per cent HRWS to 56 per cent HRWS.

The Broken system increases by four per cent to 8 per cent HRWS and the Campaspe system increases by one per cent to 51 per cent HRWS.

"Conditions across northern Victorian catchments remain very dry, with very little recent rainfall. However, the inflows in the Murray and Goulburn storages were a little better than assumed for the last assessment. This has led to the increase in the seasonal determinations announced today for these systems," Dr Bailey said.

"The increases in the Broken, Campaspe, Loddon and Bullarook systems came from evaporation and river operating conditions being slightly better than assumed in our previous assessment.

"Only a small seasonal determination has been announced for the Bullarook system due to ongoing low inflows to the system."

Trading Opportunities

The Goulburn system's inter-valley trade (IVT) account owes about 95 GL to the Murray system on October 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.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is limiting the trading of water allocations from above the Barmah Choke to downstream to protect the delivery of downstream water entitlements. 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 will be released on Monday November 2, 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/what-we-do/managing-rivers/river-murray-system/water-sharing.

Information about El Niño is available from the Bureau of Meteorology at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/.
Details of the October to December rainfall outlook and seasonal streamflow forecasts are available at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks/#/overview/summary.