Distributing the irrigators’ share

The irrigators’ share is the component of water recovered through the Connections Project that the Victorian Government committed to provide to irrigators in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District (GMID). In line with recommendations of the Irrigators’ Share Consultative Committee, the irrigators’ share has been distributed directly to GMID delivery-share holders.

Who will receive a benefit?

At 12:01 am on 1 October 2021, information on delivery share ownership was taken from the Victorian Water Register. Anyone who held delivery share in any of the six areas of the GMID on this date and is charged the common infrastructure access fee is eligible to receive a share of the Connections Project’s water recovery either as water shares or financial benefit.

All eligible recipients of the irrigators’ share will also receive the financial proceeds from the sale of water allocation held by the Connections Project against the irrigators’ share (known as the offset accounts), proportionate to their holdings of delivery share on census date (1 October 2021) as a bill credit on their GMW account.

Completion of the final water recovery audit for the Connections Project also enables irrigators to receive benefits arising from an additional 681.6 ML of long-term water recovery, as announced by the Minister for Water in February 2022. These benefits will be distributed using the same method as for the Goulburn and Murray offset accounts water – as a GMW bill credit for all eligible recipients of the irrigators’ share, proportionate to holdings of delivery share on census date (1 October 2021).

These two bill credits will be issued together, following sale of the additional 681.6 ML by GMW during the 2022/23 water year, in line with an approved water trading strategy.

For delivery-share holders with 0.25 ML per day or more

Water shares and seasonal allocations were issued in October 2021. Water shares were distributed to nearly 7,000 delivery share holders in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District (GMID) with 0.25 ML per day or more of delivery share.

This marked a significant milestone for the irrigators’ share distribution and the Connections Project.

At census date (1 October 2021) it was confirmed that eligible delivery share holders will receive:

Type of water shareGoulburnMurray
 Volume of water share per ML/day of delivery shareVolume of water share per ML/day of delivery share
HRWS4.00 ML3.97 ML
LRWS2.21 ML2.37 ML

For more information on why the water share volumes distributed in the Murray and the Goulburn systems are slightly different, read the Fact sheet – How the irrigators’ share of water recovered through modernisation the GMID is being calculated, audited and distributed:

PDF (PDF, 603.7 KB)

Accessible version (DOCX, 514.9 KB)

If you have questions about your individual distribution, contact GMW’s dedicated irrigators’ share distribution support service at ISDProject@gmwater.com.au or call 1800 013 357.

For delivery-share holders with less than 0.25 ML per day

Goulburn Murray irrigators eligible for the distribution who held less than 0.25 ML per day of delivery share at census date, received their share as a financial benefit – in the form of a credit on their fixed charges bill from Goulburn Murray Water in August 2022.

If you have questions about your financial benefit, contact GMW’s dedicated irrigators’ share distribution support service at ISDProject@gmwater.com.au or call 1800 013 357.

Distribution of additional Connections Project water recovery to irrigators

All eligible recipients of the irrigators’ share will also receive the financial proceeds from the sale of water allocation held by the Connections Project against the irrigators’ share (known as the offset accounts), proportionate to their holdings of delivery share on census date (1 October 2021) as a bill credit on their GMW account.


Completion of the final water recovery audit for the Connections Project also enables irrigators to receive benefits arising from one third of an additional 2 GL of long-term water recovery, as announced by the Minister for Water in February 2022. These benefits will be distributed using the same method as for the offset accounts water – as a GMW bill credit for all eligible recipients of the irrigators’ share, proportionate to holdings of delivery share on census date (1 October 2021).

These two bill credits will be issued together, following sale of water shares associated with the additional Connections Project water recovery.

Sale of these water shares will take place in January 2023 via a public online auction brokered by RuralCo Water who have been appointed by GMW. The trade will comprise approximately 469 ML of high reliability water shares and 495 ML of low reliability water shares, spread across seven different trading zones. The sale will be done in line with an independently developed trading strategy, which aims to maximise returns for beneficiaries, while minimising market disruption, and ensuring open accessibility to the trade opportunity for all interested parties.

Further information

Irrigators’ Share Consultative Committee

For information on the ISCC, including who was on the committee, how it consulted with the community, the full recommendation report and other information on the committee’s recommendation, go to Engage Victoria - Distributing the Irrigators' Share.

The members of the ISSC continue to oversee the implementation of the irrigators share distribution, now in the form of an advisory group – Irrigators’ Share Stakeholder Advisory Group.

Connections Project

General information about the Connections Project, including what modernisation works have been undertaken and the steps underway to complete the water recovery, is available at GMW's Connections Project web page.

The amount of water recovered through the Connections Project is confirmed each year while works are underway through independent audits. Previous audit results are available online.

Water Register

You can find out how much GMID delivery share you hold by looking up your details in the water register. The register also explains how to update your information. Go to the Water Register site.

Additional Connections Water Recovery

Where has this additional water come from and why is it being distributed as a financial benefit?

On 25 February 2022 the Minister for Water announced that of an additional 2GL of water recovered by the Connections Project above target and confirmed by the final audit, one third – or 681.6 ML LTAAY– would be distributed to GMID irrigators as a financial benefit.

Who receives the other two-thirds of this additional water? 

The remaining two-thirds of the additional 2GL, nominally shared between the other original partners in the project – the environment – represented by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) – and Melbourne retail water corporations, has been set aside for Traditional Owners in northern Victoria. The Melbourne retailers and the VEWH have given their support for the additional water recovery to be set aside to support Traditional Owner values.

Who will receive a financial benefit from the additional water committed to irrigators?

All eligible recipients of the irrigators’ share will receive a financial benefit arising from sale of the additional Connections Project water recovery committed to irrigators. Eligible recipients of the irrigators share are those who held delivery share in any of the six areas of the GMID and charged the common infrastructure access fee at census date (12:01 am on 1 October 2021). This information on eligibility was taken from the Victorian Water Register at census date.

All eligible recipients will also receive a financial benefit arising from the 2021–22 sale of water allocation held by the Connections Project against the irrigators’ share (known as the offset accounts).

Why are irrigators getting a share of the extra 2 GL when they already received additional water? 

Of the three groups of original Connections Project investors and beneficiaries, the irrigators were the only group to not receive any progressive water allocations during completion of the Project. The Victorian Government decision in April 2021 to commit a further 2GL of additional water recovery to irrigators above their original 75GL share acknowledged this and recognises that irrigators will have to pay the majority of the ongoing costs of maintaining the upgraded system through their infrastructure access fees to a standard necessary to ensure the water recovery is enduring.

Flood response and recovery in northern Victoria

When will trading begin?

After closely monitoring the flood situation in northern Victoria for several weeks and consulting with key stakeholders, a decision was made to delay the trade until early 2023.

This decision comes primarily to the trading strategy objective of ensuring ‘GMID water users are aware of opportunities and not excluded from them’ – which is difficult to ensure while many in the GMID remain in the response and recovery phase of the flood emergency.

What impact will this delay to trading have on prices achieved for the sale of water shares and allocation?

Market activity is currently slow given the wet conditions. Allocation prices are already extremely low while the entitlement prices remain steady. GMW do not anticipate any significant impacts to entitlement price achieved for the sale of water shares. With the shares being sold ‘wet’, allocation associated with the water shares will be sold together. There may be a slight easing in price which will mean a slightly lower price is achieved overall but this will be marginal.

Fact sheets and additional information

Contact us

For questions around your delivery share holdings or customer details, contact Irrigators’ Share Distribution project team at GMW.

If you have any questions or would like further information, you can contact the Irrigators’ Share Distribution project team at the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

Page last updated: 20/01/23