The Goulburn System
reserve policy recommended in the Victorian Government's Northern Region
Sustainable Water Strategy and developed following more than 18 months of
community and irrigator consultation will ensure G-MW can begin delivering
irrigators' water at the start of the irrigation season in each and every year.
"More than 3,500
irrigators carried water over into the current season and no Irrigation Area
customer was able to access their water on the 15 August 2009 - the traditional
start of the irrigation season and one of the peak periods for irrigation. The
objective of new policy is to reserve the system operating water so that our
customers can order and take delivery of their water from 15 August," said Mr
Hannan, Executive Manager Water Resources.
Under the current
reserve policy, water is reserved for system operations in the next season
after 1 April and once the allocation reaches 100% of high reliability water
shares. With allocations failing to reach 100% in recent years, the dry autumn
and winter conditions have not provided sufficient inflows to meet the
operating requirements by 15 August.
G-MW cannot commence
system operations until there are sufficient resources in the storages to meet
the system operating requirements including channel distribution losses for the
entire season.
"In recent years it's been
well into September before the system was really up and running and the delays compromised
the irrigation benefits for farmers. Spring is traditionally a peak period for
many farm operations because its when farmers can get the best results from
their water," said Mr Hannan.
Under the new policy,
G-MW will begin building reserves for the following season once allocations
reach 30% however inflows will be allocated equally to building the reserve and
increasing current season allocations. Once allocations reach 50% all further
inflows until 1 April will be directed solely to current season allocations.
The new reserve policy will take effect on the Goulburn System in 2010/11 and
on the Murray
system in 2011/12.
"The new reserve policy
adds value for irrigators using carryover and water purchases to manage their
water risk in line with their operations, due to the additional confidence that
the water can actually be delivered when they need it early in the season,"
said Mr Hannan.
Mr Hannan explained that
customers carried over allocation, not the distribution losses to enable
delivery of their carryover.
The policy will not
impact on irrigators entitlements.
"Our customers own more
than $4.2 billion of water entitlements in the form of water shares. An allocation
process that can ensure reliable access in every season will add to the value
of these water assets," said Mr Hannan.
Mr Hannan said the
policy would impact the allocations in the first year of operations only if the
final allocation is between 30% and 100%. In all subsequent years it will have
no impact on allocations and Department of Sustainability and Environment
modelling shows it will ensure Goulburn system operation and new allocations from
15 August every year.
"The new reserve policy
improves our region's resilience in the face of a hotter drier future whether
that is a result of drought or climate change," said Mr Hannan.
The NRSWS is available
from www.dse.vic.gov.au
and fact
sheets explaining the new reserve policy are available on the site.
-ENDS-
Media Contact: Linda
Nieuwenhuizen
Position: Manager
Stakeholder Relations
Telephone: 0412 183 792
or 5833 5776