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Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW)

G-MW announced increased allocations on the Murray and Goulburn systems on 2 January and 15 January, but allocations remained at 0% on all other systems.

Allocation improvements during January were indicative of recent weather conditions and ongoing drought management practices. The increases have come from small contributions from a range of sources, including inflows (there was some rainfall in the upper catchment of the Murray) and better than worst-case river and storage losses.

G-MW will make the next allocation announcement on 2 February 2009.

The Minister for Water 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 resumed on the Goulburn and Murray systems during November when the allocations reached 20%. Normal allocation rules will resume on the Broken system when the allocations reach 20%. The qualification on the Loddon, Bullarook, and Campaspe systems will remain in place until the allocations on these systems reach 50%.

Coliban Rural System

On 15 September, Coliban Water announced a 0% allocation on the Coliban Rural System.

Recycled water is available to customers on the Ascot, Axe Creek and Cockatoo Hill channel systems up to 40% of licence volume. Elsewhere in the rural system, a qualification of rights is in place to provide significant commercial operators with emergency supplies up to 30% of licence volume.

Wimmera Mallee Domestic and Stock Supply System

The Grampians storages were at 4.7% of capacity at the end of January.

Towns and farms in Supply Systems 1, 2 and 5 are receiving restricted supply from the pipeline.

In Supply Systems 3 and 4 the channel run has supplied towns and some large supply-by-agreement customers adjacent to the major channels (including Charlton feedlot, QAF Meats). GWMWater commenced its domestic carting program to eligible farms on 1 November 2008.

There is not enough water for a channel run this year in Supply System 6. GWMWater is carting domestic water to farms with dams that have emptied or become unusable due to poor water quality.

Irrigation allocations remain at zero.

Southern Rural Water

Macalister Irrigation District (MID)

At the end of January, Lake Glenmaggie, the principal source of water for the MID, was at 70.6% of capacity.

Rainfall during late November and early December led to Lake Glenmaggie spilling before 15 December 2008 (the end of the official spilling season). As such, water used before this date became Spill Entitlement.

The irrigation allocation from 15 December onwards has been set at 95% for all irrigators within the MID, and for diverters on the Thomson River, Macalister River and Rainbow Creek. Further inflows have been minimal, and the allocation has not been increased.

Latrobe System

At the end of January, storage levels in Blue Rock Lake were at 84.4% of capacity.

The irrigation share of Blue Rock was 277 ML or 6.7% of regulated allocation. SRW licence holders downstream on the Latrobe and Tanjil Rivers could pump up to their licence volume 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 4% of capacity at the end of January.

On 2 January, the seasonal allocation was increased by 1% to 5% high reliability water share for the Werribee and Bacchus Marsh irrigation districts. This allocation applies until 30 June 2009.

SRW is progressing its Western Irrigation Contingency Plan for the 2008/09 season. Pumping of dead storage in Pykes Creek Reservoir is continuing, and 2,000 ML was transferred from the SRW drought reserve in the Thomson Reservoir.

Irrigators in the Werribee area continue to rely on the recycling scheme as their principal water source while the river flows are very low. The recycling scheme is now providing about 60 ML/day, and approximately 90% of Werribee growers are participating.

Maribyrnong Basin

The storage volume in Rosslynne Reservoir remained very low, at 2.7% of capacity at the end of January.

With inflows well below average, SRW diverters face another season of low, possibly zero, allocations.

Restrictions on Unregulated Streams

At the end of January, diversions from a total of 169 unregulated streams and lakes across the state were subject to some form of restriction. This is greater than at the same time last year when 133 streams were on restriction.

In northern Victoria, Goulburn-Murray Water increased restrictions on four streams and introduced irrigation bans on a further six streams; in the Campaspe, Murray Ovens and Mitta Mitta basins.

Bans on diversions from all unregulated streams in the GWMWater region remained in force.

In southern Victoria, Melbourne Water introduced irrigation bans on 10 streams; Arundle Ck, Don Ck, Moonee Ponds Ck, Mullum Mullum Ck, Oldina Ck, Plenty River, Wandin Yallock Ck and Woori Yallock Ck.