Seasonal Determinations increase in the Murray, Goulburn and Loddon Systems

The Resource Manager for northern Victoria today updated the 2023/24 seasonal determinations.

Seasonal determinations in the Murray system increase from 100 per cent of high-reliability water shares (HRWS) and 25 per cent of low-reliability water shares (LRWS) to 100 per cent HRWS and 85 per cent LRWS.

The Goulburn and Loddon systems move from 100 per cent HRWS and 67 per cent LRWS to 100 per cent HRWS and 77 per cent LRWS.

Seasonal determinations in the Broken, Campaspe and Bullarook systems remain unchanged.

Resource Manager Mark Bailey said the resource benefits from early January rain were still being realised.

“The improvements in the Murray system are primarily from rainfall increasing flows into the River Murray,” Dr Bailey said.

“This water has met demand and reduced the amount released from the storages.

“The higher than assumed inflows and releases to manage Lake Eildon levels contributed to the increase in the Goulburn system. About 26,000 ML was released after the mid-January assessment, which is about 7 per cent of the volume held in spillable water accounts in the Goulburn system.

“Due to the spills from Lake Eppalock, around 4,000 ML will be deducted from Campaspe spillable water accounts. This represents about 44 per cent of the accounts’ volume.

“Releases from Lake Eildon and Lake Eppalock since late January have been meeting downstream demands. The chance of further spills in 2023/24 from the Goulburn and Campaspe systems is about 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.”

The seasonal determinations for northern Victorian water systems on Thursday 15 February are:

Trading Opportunities

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 Victoria’s share of both Hume and Dartmouth reservoirs below 50 per cent. The 200 GL of net trade from New South Wales to Victoria remains available. The volume available for trade is updated with each risk of spill announcement. 

Customers participating in the water trading market can monitor trade availability on the Victorian Water Register website

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has announced that trading of water allocations from above the Barmah Choke to downstream of the Choke is restricted to protect the delivery of downstream water entitlements. Customers can monitor trading opportunities across the Barmah Choke on the MDBA website

Upcoming Resource Manager Announcements

• The risk of spill in the Goulburn and Campaspe systems will be updated on Monday 11 March,  2024.
• The next 2023/24 seasonal determination announcement will be released on Friday 15 March, 2024.