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 the State’s 20 urban and rural water corporations.

Rainfall

January rainfall totals were generally above average in the north of the state and below average in the south. By the end of the month, large regions within Northern Country, Mallee and West Gippsland districts had received more than 150% of the long-term average rainfall for January. In contrast, much of Central district, East Gippsland, South Gippsland and South West Coast recorded less than 60% of the long-term January average. Melbourne received 32.2 mm of rain during the month, which is below the long-term January average of 47.1 mm.

Streamflows

A significant rainfall event occurred on 19 January and provided most of Victoria with good rainfall totals over a period of 3 days. Although welcome, this rainfall did not provide a great deal of long-term improvement to Victorian streams and was not sufficient to recover the state’s major storages or have a large influence on the numbers of towns on restriction or irrigation allocations. By the end of the month, streams across two-thirds of the state were exhibiting flows less than 10% of the long-term January average.

Storage Levels

Rural water corporation storages decreased by 2.0% to finish the month at 21.7% of capacity (7.7% higher than at the same time last year). In northern and western Victoria, volumes in the major storages decreased in all but the Ovens basin, which continued to spill. Storage volumes also declined in the major storages in southern Victoria in January. The decline of storage volumes throughout the state is due to demand for irrigation and modest inflows. Melbourne Water's storages decreased by 2.0% during the month to finish at 37.2% of capacity. This is 0.7% higher than at the same time last year.

Urban Water Restrictions

373 Victorian towns were on restriction as at 31 January 2008. 76 towns were on Stage 1, 49 were on Stage 2, 55 were on Stage 3, 18 were on Stage 3a, 77 on Stage 4 with general exemptions, and 98 on Stage 4. In northern Victoria, restrictions were reduced for a number of towns supplied from the Murray River and the Goulburn system and for five towns in the state’s northeast. In southern Victoria, restrictions were lifted for the Leongatha system and for Glenmaggie and Coongulla.

Irrigation Allocations 

Irrigation allocations were still extremely low across northern, central and western Victoria at the end of January. In northern Victoria, allocations were increased on the Murray, Broken, Goulburn and Campaspe systems due to higher than expected inflows following widespread rainfall throughout the region in late December 2007. The seasonal allocation for Coliban Water’s rural system remained at 35%, whilst the irrigation allocation remained at zero in the Wimmera Mallee supply system. In southern Victoria, allocations in the Werribee and Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District remained at 8% of water right or licensed volume and Southern Rural Water continued the ban on access to groundwater in the Deutgam Groundwater Management Area. Although storage levels in Blue Rock Lake are higher than last year, the regulated irrigation allocation from Blue Rock Lake stood at just 19% due to being heavily drawn upon last season.

In contrast, irrigation allocations are relatively high in the Macalister Irrigation District (MID). Continuing inflows allowed SRW to increase the allocation twice in January, from 105% to 115%, for all irrigators within the MID, and for diverters on the Thomson River, Macalister River and Rainbow Creek.

Restrictions on Diversions 

At the end of December, diversions from a total of 133 unregulated streams and lakes across the State were subject to some form of restriction. This is significantly less than at the same time last year when 207 streams were on restriction.

Seasonal Climate Outlook

The Bureau of Meteorology released its latest seasonal rainfall outlook on 24 January 2007. The outlook for the February - April quarter indicates that the chances of exceeding the three-month median rainfall are between 45 and 55% across Victoria. The La Niña event is mature and has been the main factor behind the enhanced eastern Australian rainfall since November. All the dynamic computer models predict La Niña conditions until at least the middle of autumn 2008.