The Central Goulburn Irrigation Area includes more than 110,000 irrigated hectares and services some 2,800 irrigated holdings. The Victorian Government and Water for Rivers have invested $53 million in modernisation works across the area including channel automation, metering upgrades and reducing leakage.

Central Goulburn 1234 Channel Automation Project

The Central Goulburn 1234 Channel Automation Project (CG1234) has modernised channels and meter outlets in the 1, 2, 3 and 4 channel system within the Central Goulburn Irrigation Area south east of Tatura in Victoria's north. This project has trialled channel automation on a complex system configuration for the first time, following a two year pilot on the CG2 channel. The investment in the project from the Victorian Water Trust and Water for Rivers will enable the further roll out of channel automation technologies.

The three stages of the project include:

• Stage One: automation of the channel regulators on channels 1, 3 and 4 and completing the automation of the CG2 channel in order to identify leakage and seepage in the system.
• Stage Two: targeted civil works to rectify leakage and seepage in identified high-loss channel pools.
• Stage Three: automation of farm meter outlets on each of the target channels.

Water Savings

To date the project has delivered about 15.5 billion litres of long term average water savings annually. These savings have come from:

• channel automation to reduce outfalls
• channel remediation to reduce leakage and seepage
• improved meter accuracy
• reduced unauthorised use from more accurate operation and measurement.

Funding

The project is funded by the Victorian Government through the Victorian Water Trust and Water for Rivers.

Timing

The project is close to completion with final Stage 3 works occurring during 2012.