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Water Trading Ballot

What is "the Ballot"?

The water share ballot is a process used to determine the processing order for water share transfer applications.

Each year there is a limit on the volume of water shares which can have the association with land in an irrigation area removed.

This limit restricts the disassociation of water shares from each irrigation area to 4% of the total volume of water shares that were associated with land at the beginning of the water season.

The limit is set at the beginning of the season.

In recent times the volume of applications lodged at the beginning of the new season which seek to remove the association with land in one or more irrigation areas has exceeded the 4% limits. For this reason a ballot system was implemented to determine the processing order ensuring fairness and transparency in the process of water share transfer applications.

An independent auditor oversees the operation of the ballot process and verifies that all valid applications submitted for the ballot have been included and are allocated a processing order number. An electronic balloting process, endorsed by an independent auditor, randomly generates a processing order number for each application.

When the ballot process has been verified by the auditor and the processing order established and locked, processing will commence in balloted order.

Water Trading and 2011/12 Ballot

Will there be a ballot this year?

Yes, there will be large volumes of applications to trade water out of the irrigation areas so a ballot will be required. Applicants are reminded that the ballot only determines the order for processing applications. It doesn't determine whether they are successful.

When will the ballot be held?

The ballot will begin the processing stage on Wednesday 13th July. Applications can be lodged beginning Monday 20th June right up until 4pm on Friday 8th July, 2011.

When can I submit my application?

Any applications for water share transfers for the 2011/12 season can be submitted from Monday 20th June till Friday 8th July.

Applications submitted during this period which are subject to the 4% trade-out limits will be held for the ballot (including applications which are exempt from the 4% limits).

Applications lodged during the ballot application period which are not subject to the 4% rule will be processed in the order they are received and will not be included in the ballot.

If you submit your application after the ballot it will be processed once all ballot applications have been processed.

Will the ballot rules be the same as last year (2010)?

Most rules are unchanged but there are a couple of changes.

Applications lodged in the application period (20th June - 8th July, 2011) will only be included in the ballot if the application is subject to the 4% trading limit. Applications submitted during this period which are subject to the 4% trade-out limits will be held for the ballot (including applications which are exempt from the 4% limits*).

This is different to last year when all applications received during the ballot acceptance period were included in the ballot. This year G-MW will be able to segment applications which are not subject to the 4% limits to enable faster and more efficient processing of applications from customers who are selling their properties with water shares or whose water shares do not impact on the 4% limits.

*Applications granted an exemption to the 4% limit are included in the ballot because the exemption is granted by NVIRP (or any other elidgible program) and is still subject to verification by G-MW during processing. If an exemption cannot be verified, the application will be subject to the 4% limit for the relevant irrigation area.

The other change for this ballot relates to payment of outstanding charges prior to approval of an application to transfer a water share.

Any charges outstanding for the 2010/11 spill water accounts (to have been issued in June 2011) must be paid along with any outstanding water entitlement storage fees.