Irrigation Allocations - January 2010
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Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW)
On 4 January G-MW increased the allocation for high-reliability shares (HRWS) to 50% for the Goulburn system and 11% for the Bullarook Creek system, while the Murray allocation remained at 60%. On 15 January the Murray system allocation was increased to 63% of HRWS and the Goulburn system allocation to 55%. Allocations are 0% for all remaining northern systems.
| 31 January 2010 | Change over the month | |
|---|---|---|
| Goulburn | 55% | +6% |
| Murray | 63% | +3% |
| Broken | 0% | 0% |
| Campaspe | 0% | 0% |
| Loddon | 0% | 0% |
| Bullarook | 11% | +5% |
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 domestic and stock use 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 will release its seasonal outlook for the 2010/11 season in mid February.
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
All towns and rural customers connected to the pipeline are on Stage 1 restrictions.
The expected date for official completion of the pipeline is April 2010. All trunk lines have now been installed and pressure tested. All that is remaining is the completion of the distribution lines that supply individual customers.
Towns and farms in supply systems 1, 2 and 5 are receiving full supply from the pipeline.
All towns in supply systems 3, 4 and 6 are now receiving piped supplies, as are several large Supply by Agreement customers. Rural customers are receiving an emergency supply as they are progressively connected to the pipeline. Those not yet connected to the pipeline system are eligible to receive water through GWMWater’s enhanced water carting program. All customers not yet connected to the pipeline are likely to start receiving an emergency supply through the pipeline by March 2010.
Glenorchy is the only town in the entire system not yet connected to the pipeline. A minor channel release to Glenorchy (less than 100 ML) will secure supplies to the town prior to connection.
Irrigation allocations are at 0%.
Southern Rural Water
Macalister Irrigation District (MID)
At the end of January, Lake Glenmaggie, the main source of water for the MID, was at 58.2% of capacity.
On 12 January SRW increased the MID allocation to 100% of HRWS.
The current volume in the Thomson/Macalister irrigators’ Thomson Drought Reserve is 15,073 ML.
Latrobe System
At the end of January, storage levels in Blue Rock Lake were at 80.1% of capacity.
The irrigation share of Blue Rock was 1,431 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 8% of capacity at the end of January.
The seasonal allocation of 10% of HRWS did not change during January.
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 do not have access to recycled water and rely on dwindling surface water resources and expensive emergency supplies. SRW aims to deliver at the equivalent of at least 32% of river water entitlements through a combination of the HRWS allocation and emergency supplies.
Maribyrnong Basin
The storage volume in Rosslynne Reservoir remained very low at 4.0% of capacity at the end of January. SRW’s allocation for its licensed diverters remains at 0%.