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Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW)

G-MW made its first allocation announcement for the 2008/09 season on 1 July. Opening allocations were 0% across all water systems in northern Victoria. Allocations remain at 0% across all systems after subsequent allocation announcements on 15 July and 31 July.

The final seasonal allocations were as follows:

The Minister for Water has temporarily qualified rights to water in the Murray, Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe, Loddon and Bullarook systems to make sufficient water available for essential urban and farming needs.

Normal allocation rules will resume on the Goulburn, Murray and Broken systems when allocations on these systems reach 20%. The qualification on the Loddon, Bullarook, and Campaspe systems will remain in place until allocations on these systems reach 50%.

The outlook for allocations on the Murray and Goulburn water systems for the 2008/09 season was updated by G-MW on 31 July 2008.

• All of the northern Victorian water systems remain very dry, with inflows to storages during July well below average. Strong inflows during August and spring are needed to meet shortfalls across all systems before irrigation allocations can be made.
• The allocation outlooks (% of high-reliability water share) are presented below. Current inflow conditions and monthly inflow records from seasons with dry winter conditions have been used to prepare the outlooks.
• A repeat of 2007/08 inflow conditions is expected to produce a Murray seasonal allocation of 32% of high-reliability water shares and a 33% allocation in the Goulburn system.

Murray System

Goulburn System

Inflow Conditions	15 Aug	15 Oct	15 Dec	15 Feb
Dry	0%	10%	17%	23%
Average	2%	44%	67%	75%
Wet	24%	8%	100%	100%

The next allocation announcement and seasonal outlook will be released by G-MW on 15 August 2008.

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Coliban Rural System

Coliban Water will make an allocation announcement for the 2008/09 season in September.

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Wimmera Mallee Domestic and Stock Supply System

At 31 July 2008, storages in the Wimmera-Mallee domestic and stock supply system were at 5% of capacity, an increase of 1.2% since June.

Supplies to all customer groups are in accordance with the restriction schedule contained in the Wimmera-Glenelg bulk entitlements as follows:

• towns are on Stage 4 restrictions;
• domestic and stock supply to farms is limited to one dam per enterprise in most areas, with limited pipeline supply in areas where  the pipelining is completed, and carting of water around Berriwillock and Culgoa;
• irrigation supplies are zero;
• no supply is available for irrigation diversions on the Wimmera River;
• supply to recreation lakes has been nil since 2000.

The Waranga channel run commenced on 2 June 2008. It will continue through August and is likely to finish by September:

• A total of 9,500 ML has been allocated from this year’s 26,000 ML Waranga entitlement to supply dams in the area traditionally serviced by the Waranga system, on the basis of one dam per 400 hectare of farm enterprise.
• This includes rural customers in the northern-most area of Supply System 2 of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline who will not receive a piped supply until late 2008.
• Dams will not be filled on farms being connected to Supply System 5 of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline.

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Southern Rural Water

Macalister Irrigation District (MID)

At 31 July, Lake Glenmaggie, the principal source of water for the MID, was at 68.4% of capacity. 

An opening allocation of 55% has been announced for all irrigators within the MID, and for diverters on the Thomson River, Macalister River and Rainbow Creek

Latrobe System

Water availability increased slightly throughout July with storage levels in Blue Rock Lake rising 2.1% to 71.9% of capacity.  The irrigation share of Blue Rock was drawn down last season, and is now 6.7%.

SRW licence holders downstream on the Latrobe and Tanjil Rivers could pump up to their licensed volume subject to the availability of unregulated river flows (which normally contribute some 70% of entitlements). 

Werribee Basin (Bacchus Marsh and Werribee Irrigation District)

SRW’s share of the Werribee basin was approximately 4% of capacity at the end of July.

The opening seasonal allocation was announced on 1 July and is just 2% of high reliability water share for the Werribee and Bacchus Marsh irrigation districts. This allocation is guaranteed only until 30 November 2008.

SRW is currently developing its Western Irrigation Contingency Plan for the 2008/09 season.

Irrigators in the Werribee area continue to rely on the recycling scheme as their principal water source while the river flows are very low.  90% of Werribee growers are participating in the recycling scheme.

The ban on access to groundwater within the Deutgam Groundwater Management Area has been extended until 30 June 2009.

Maribyrnong Basin

The storage volume in Rosslynne Reservoir remained at 3.4% of capacity at the end of July.  With inflows well below average, SRW diverters face another season of low, possibly zero, allocations.

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