The Monthly Water Report provides a statewide monthly summary of the status of water resources and water supplies. Each month's report is published online towards the end of the following month. It is based on data provided by Victoria's 19 urban and rural water corporations.

Rainfall

Normal weather conditions experienced in March continued into April. Rainfall totals for the month were close to the long-term averages across most of the state. However, parts of northwest and northeast Victoria received above average rainfall for April.

Streamflows

At the end of the month, streamflows showed improvement in the Alpine region and along the southwest coast. However, across most of the state, increased rainfall did not result in significant improvement to streamflows.

No flow conditions were recorded at 13 of the 28 representative gauging stations at the end of April. Fifteen stations exhibited flows less than 10% of the long-term average for April.

Storage Volumes

Storage levels across Victoria continued to decline throughout April.  This month, the total volume in the state’s major storages decreased by 1.4% to 12.5% of capacity.

Melbourne's storages decreased by 1.3% during the month to finish at 27.8% of capacity. Regional water storages decreased by 1.4% to 10.6% of capacity at the end of April.

Restrictions on Urban Water Supplies

During April, South Gippsland Water increased restrictions to Stage 4 for Yarram, Devon North, Alberton and Port Albert.

Goulburn Valley Water reduced restrictions to Stage 3 for Longwood and increased restrictions to Stage 2 for Euroa and Violet Town.

North East Water increased restrictions to Stage 2 for Beechworth and Glenrowan and to Stage 4 for Whitfield.

Barwon Water removed Stage 2 restrictions for Apollo Bay, Marengo and Skenes Creek.

340 Victorian towns were on restrictions on 30 April 2009. Of these, 65 towns were on Stage 1 restrictions, 49 were on Stage 2, 51 were on Stage 3, 19 on Stage 3a, 105 on Stage 4 with general exemptions and 51 were on Stage 4. Approximately 170 towns were not on water restrictions but were subject to Permanent Water Saving Rules.

Irrigation Allocations

G-MW made the final allocation announcement for the season on 1 April. Allocations increased by 1% to 33% on the Goulburn system and the Murray system stayed at 35%. Allocations remain at 0% on all other northern systems. All further resource improvements will be reserved to secure water supplies in 2009/10.

Allocations on both the Coliban Rural System and the Wimmera-Mallee irrigation supply system remained at zero per cent during April.

In southern Victoria, the seasonal allocation for the Werribee and Bacchus Marsh irrigation districts remained at 5% of high reliability water share.

At the end of the month, Lake Glenmaggie was at 26.3% of capacity.  Southern Rural Water increased the allocation for the Macalister Irrigation District to 100% for high-reliability water shares and 10% for low-reliability. The irrigation share of Blue Rock was 189 ML at the end of April.

Restrictions on Unregulated Streams

At the end of April, diversions from a total of 193 unregulated streams and lakes across the state were subject to restrictions. This is greater than this time last year when 169 streams were on restriction.

Seasonal Climate Outlook

The Bureau of Meteorology released the rainfall outlook for the period May to July on 24 April 2009. The outlook shows a slight shift in the odds favouring wetter than normal conditions for Victoria. The chances of exceeding the median rainfall are between 45% and 55% in east Gippsland and northeast Victoria and between 40% and 45% across the rest of the state.

The Bureau’s latest ENSO Wrap-Up was issued on 15 April 2009. Climate patterns across the equatorial Pacific are almost all neutral, displaying few La Niña signals. Most models predict Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures to remain neutral until at least mid-winter. The Indian Ocean Dipole is neutral and will be monitored in autumn for any signs of an emerging event.