Summary of Audit Findings

The third independent audit of water savings for the irrigation season 2010-2011 was undertaken for the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP) and the Goulburn-Murray Water modernisation projects.

The audit was carried out in September/October 2011 by an independent auditor (Cardno (Qld) Pty Ltd). It covered NVIRP Stage 1 and Shepparton and Central Goulburn 1234 modernisation works and is contained in two reports:

• Audit of Water Savings Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project, October  2011.
• Audit of Water Savings Shepparton and Central Goulburn 1-4, November  2011.

The audit found that water savings estimation was in accordance with the Water Savings Protocol and of acceptable accuracy.  The auditor also confirmed water share purchases carried out for the NVIRP Stage 1 Connections program, Campaspe Irrigation District decommissioning and the on-farm works program.

The key audit findings were:

1. Water Savings Achieved

Project	Water Savings (ML)
	For 2010-2011	Long-Term Average
NVIRP Stage 1	30,154	86,726
Shepparton	13,925	39,022
CG1234	3,652	15,457

  
A summary of the water recovered for each component program for NVIRP is listed on the NVIRP website.

2. Water Entitlement Purchases

As part of the NVIRP Stage 1 project water entitlement purchases were undertaken to support the Campaspe Irrigation District (CID) decommissioning and the strategic acquisition related to the Connections and on-farm programs.  About 62% of the water entitlement purchases were related to the CID decommissioning.  The auditor reviewed and confirmed the total volume of entitlement purchases made by NVIRP under its component programs (see NVIRP website) as the following:

Low-Reliability Water Share	High-Reliability Water Share	Total
1,385.4 ML	23,225.4 ML	24,610.8 ML

No water share purchases were undertaken as part of the Shepparton and CG1234 projects.

3. Progress of NVIRP against Business Case Targets   

The NVIRP target water recovery for 2010-2011 is 103 GL.  NVIRP has exceeded this target through the combination of water savings and water purchases as shown in the following table:

Water Recovery Element	Water Shares (ML)	Water Recovery (ML – long-term average)
Water Savings		86,726
Low-Reliability Water Shares	1,385.4	593
High-Reliability Water Shares	23,225.4	22,169
TOTAL		109,488

Note: conversion of water shares to water recovery targets based on established conversion factors

4. Systems and Processes

The auditor made a number of observations and recommendations regarding systems and processes.  The most of important of these are the following:

• Both NVIRP and GMW systems and processes continue to be sufficiently robust to generate data and inputs that are accurate as could reasonably be expected for the purpose of calculating water savings.
• Both NVIRP and GMW had determined water savings in accordance with the Water Savings Protocol Technical Manual.
• NVIRP can improve the way that it documents channel rationalisation and remediation works.
• GMW must improve how it records and uses outfall data for the purpose of water savings audits.  GMW Operations must take a lead in these initiatives and that these are to be largely implemented before the start of the 2012-2013 irrigation season.
• Recommended changes for improving the water savings estimation process in three main areas of data collection and analysis, the Water Savings Protocol Technical Manual and Water Entitlement Entity (WEE) recording.
• Noted that significant action has been made in response to recommendations made in the First and Second Audits of Water Savings.

Download audit documents

2010-11 Audit of Water Savings: NVIRP (PDF~2.5MB)
2010-11 Audit of Water Savings: G-MW (PDF~2.5MB)