Carryover
Carryover was introduced in northern Victoria in early 2007 as an emergency drought measure to allow entitlement holders to carry over some unused water allocation to use in the following season. After the initial success in 2007/08, carryover was made permanent later that year, with a future review flagged to investigate ways to improve the rules for all water users.
A review of carryover was outlined in the Draft Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy, proposing some initial changes for the 2008/09 season prior to completing a final review before 2010. Following consideration of feedback to the Draft Strategy, the Minister for Water announced that for the 2009/10 season, the limit on carryover would be increased from 30 to 50 per cent of entitlement volume. See full media release.
A paper was released to seek feedback on the proposed final carryover arrangements to be implemented for 2010. As a result of consultation, the final Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy overcomes the limitations of the 100 per cent rule. It introduces the ‘spillable water account’, allowing entitlement-holders to retain their carryover when allocations reach 100 per cent so long as there is available capacity in the water storages. See the proposal paper below.
Background Report 7B: Proposal for future carryover arrangements (PDF~456kB)
Carryover review in 2012
In 2012, the Minister for Water appointed a committee to review of the current rules. More information about this can be found at the Victorian Water Register.