Irrigation Allocations - December 2009
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Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW)
On 1 December G-MW increased the allocation for high-reliability shares to 57% for the Murray system and 46% for the Goulburn system. Allocations for high-reliability shares were increased again on both systems on 15 December - the Murray system to 60% and the Goulburn system to 49%. An opening allocation of 6% for high-reliability water shares on the Bullarook systems was also announced on 15 December.
| 31 December 2009 | Change Since 30 November 2009 | |
|---|---|---|
| Goulburn | 49% | +8% |
| Murray | 60% | +5% |
| Broken | 0% | 0% |
| Campaspe | 0% | 0% |
| Loddon | 0% | 0% |
| Bullarook | 6% | +6% |
The Minister for Water has temporarily qualified rights to water in the Murray, Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe, Loddon and Bullarook systems this season to make sufficient water available for essential urban and farming needs.
As the allocations on the Goulburn and Murray systems are now above 20%, essential needs for D&S and industry are no longer covered under the qualification. The qualification to cover essential needs on the Broken, Loddon, Bullarook, and Campaspe systems will remain in place until a 50% allocation is reached.
G-MW released the final seasonal allocation outlook on 16 November 2009. Future allocation increases for the 2009/10 season are likely to be minor given the completion of the major winter-spring inflow period.
G-MW has produced outlooks for Dry, Average and Wet inflow conditions to illustrate the range of possible allocations for February 15, 2010 – refer to the table below.
Irrigation Allocation Outlook 16 November 2009
| Inflow Conditions |
Murray | Goulburn | Broken | Campaspe | Loddon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wet | 88% | 71% | 31% | 1% | 35% |
| Average |
77% | 59% | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Dry |
62% | 49% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Coliban Rural System
On 15 September, Coliban Water announced a 0% general allocation for the Coliban Rural System. Recycled water is available to customers on the Ascot and Axe Creek channel systems, equivalent to a 40% allocation.
The Minister for Water has qualified rights to water in the Coliban Rural System to allow Coliban Water to provide a 30% emergency supply to eligible customers.
Wimmera Mallee Domestic and Stock Supply System
Towns and farms in supply systems 1, 2 and 5 are receiving full supply from the pipeline.
Trunk installation in supply systems 3 and 4 (Birchip and Wycheproof lines) is now complete between Taylors Lake and Lubeck. In supply system 4, all of the pipes are in the ground and customers are expected to receive an emergency supply by Christmas. In supply system 3, 90% of customers are connected. All towns in Supply Systems 3 & 4 are now receiving piped supplies, as are several large Supply by Agreement customers. Customers who are not yet connected to the pipeline system are eligible to receive water through the enhanced GWMWater Water Carting program until they are able to receive a piped supply. Supply system 4 is due to be completed in February 2010 but supply system 3 will not be completed until April 2010. In Supply System 6 the trunk lines have now been installed and pressure tested, and water is now being piped to the balancing storages. All that is remaining is the completion of the distribution lines that supply individual customers as well as the service connections.
The expected date for official completion of the pipeline is April 2010. However, all customers not yet connected to the pipeline are likely to start receiving emergency supply by March 2010.
Irrigation allocations are at 0%.
Southern Rural Water
Macalister Irrigation District (MID)
At the end of December, Lake Glenmaggie, the main source of water for the MID, was at 82.0% of capacity.
On 15 December, SRW increased the allocation for high-reliability shares in the MID to 95% as a result of the reservoir spilling. There were no changes to the allocation at the subsequent announcement on 29 December.
The current volume in the Thomson/Macalister irrigators’ Thomson Drought Reserve is 15,262 ML.
Latrobe System
At the end of December, storage levels in Blue Rock Lake were at 82.3% of capacity.
The irrigation share of Blue Rock was 1,426 ML. SRW licence holders downstream on the Latrobe and Tanjil Rivers can pump up to their licence volume, but this is subject to the availability of unregulated river flows (which normally contribute approximately 70% of entitlements).
Werribee Basin
SRW’s share of the Werribee storages was at 9% of capacity at the end of December.
Following inflow improvements from late November rain, SRW increased the allocation for the Werribee and Bacchus Marsh irrigation districts to 8% for high-reliability shares. This was increased again on 15 December to 10%, applying for the whole season.
The amount of water available for Werribee/Bacchus Marsh irrigators in the Thompson Drought Reserve is 666.2 ML.
Irrigators in the Werribee area continued to rely on the recycling scheme as their main water source while the river flows are very low. The recycling scheme is providing about 65 ML/day shared between 90% of Werribee growers. As water from the Thomson is not available to reduce salinity in the recycled water over summer, SRW is looking at alternative options in consultation with growers.
The Western Irrigation Contingency Plan for the 2009/10 season is progressing. Emergency supplies this year are more limited than in previous years. While the situation across the whole Werribee basin remains serious, SRW is particularly concerned about Bacchus Marsh irrigators who could be solely reliant on expensive emergency supplies. SRW aims to deliver at the equivalent of at least 31% of river water entitlements through a combination of the high reliability share allocation and emergency supplies.
Maribyrnong Basin
The storage volume in Rosslynne Reservoir remained very low, at 4.0% of capacity at the end of December. The allocation for SRW diverters remains at 0%.