Allocations are expected to increase next month as a result of good rainfall in late September.

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.

Normal water sharing rules resumed on the Murray when the allocation went above 10%. This will also occur once the Goulburn system allocation goes above 10%. The qualification on the Broken, Loddon, Bullarook, and Campaspe systems will remain in place until a 50% allocation is reached.

G-MW released the latest seasonal allocation outlook for the 2009/10 season on 15 September 2009. The 2009/10 outlooks are based on observed inflows in seasons following dry winter inflows. This approach provides an adjustment for reduced runoff caused by dry catchments.

Murray System

Goulburn System (Allocations include pumping from Waranga Basin)

Broken System

Campaspe

Loddon

Coliban Rural System

On 15 September, Coliban Water announced a 0% opening general allocation for the Coliban Rural System, with a 30% emergency supply available to eligible customers. Recycled water is available to customers on the Ascot and Axe Creek channel systems, equivalent to a 40% allocation. CW has received further inflows since the allocation announcement, and is currently assessing whether a general allocation can be made on the Coliban Rural System.

The Minister for Water has qualified rights to water in the Coliban Rural System to allow Coliban Water to provide emergency water supplies to eligible customers if there is not enough water for an allocation.

Wimmera Mallee Domestic and Stock Supply System

Towns and farms in supply systems 1, 2 and 5 are receiving full supply from the pipeline.

Trunk installation in supply systems 3 and 4 (Birchip and Wycheproof lines) is now complete between Taylors Lake and Lubeck. In supply system 4, all towns on the trunk main are connected and approximately 60% of customers are receiving an emergency supply. In supply system 3, 90% of customers are connected. Last year’s winter channel run supplied towns and some large supply-by-agreement customers adjacent to the major channels in this area. Other needs were met by carting.  Works in supply systems 3 and 4 are currently suspended due to wet conditions.

Over 200 kilometres (out of 850 km) of pipeline have been installed in supply system 6 to date and the construction of the Brimpaen storage is well advanced. Prior to the rains, GWMWater carted water to farms with dams that had emptied or become unusable due to poor water quality.

The remaining Wimmera-Mallee system pipelining is estimated for completion by March 2010.

Irrigation allocations are at 0%.

Southern Rural Water

Macalister Irrigation District (MID)

At the end of September, Lake Glenmaggie, the principal source of water for the MID, was at 88.0% of capacity – a 27.4% increase on last month.

At the beginning of September, MID allocations were at 55% for high reliability shares. SRW increased the allocation to 70% on 8 September, and to 75% on 22 September.

Latrobe System

At the end of August, storage levels in Blue Rock Lake were at 77.6% of capacity.

The irrigation share of Blue Rock was 825 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 5% of capacity at the end of September.

Allocations remained at 2% for high reliability shares for the Werribee and Bacchus Marsh irrigation districts for the month. This allocation has been guaranteed until 30 November only. 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 among 90% of Werribee 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 could be solely reliant on expensive emergency supplies e.g. up to 500 ML from Thomson Reservoir. SRW aims to deliver at the equivalent of at least 25% of river water entitlements through a combination of the high reliability share allocation and emergency supplies. However, without a turnaround in seasonal conditions, it is still possible some customers will run out of water in 2010.

Maribyrnong Basin

The storage volume in Rosslynne Reservoir remained very low, at 4.5% of capacity at the end of September.

With inflows well below average, SRW diverters have another season commencing with a 0% allocation.