Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW) is releasing water from Lake Eildon and will continue to release around 1,000 ML per day for at least the next fortnight. The volumes released from 1 July onwards will count as a spill on the Goulburn System and will see increased river levels downstream.
G-MW Acting Managing Director Shane McGrath said, "The critical points for Goulburn system irrigators are, firstly the spill will not impact on the 1 July start of season allocations. Second, there is no impact on the volume of water carried over and available in customers' Allocation Bank Accounts. Third, there may be an impact on the volume of water in customers' spillable water accounts and this will be confirmed in the 15 July allocation announcement."
The releases are an established part of Lake Eildon operations but are the first since 1993. G-MW is currently recording inflows of around 4,000 ML per day into Lake Eildon and the storage is at its highest level for more than 15 years.
"The primary role of our water storages is to harvest and store customers' water entitlements. In Lake Eildon, the target filling procedure underpins the reliability of these water entitlements but also strikes a balance between storage and flood mitigation benefits where this is possible," said Mr McGrath.
"If the level in Lake Eildon moves above the filling procedure target, we release water to bring it back to the target with the confidence that in 95 years out of 100, the volume released will refill and there will be no impact on customers' entitlements," said Mr McGrath.
The Lake Eildon filling procedure was recently revised to account for better knowledge of catchment behaviour following the recent extended dry years and for current conditions.
"During the drought when Eildon's water levels dropped to below 10 percent of capacity we reviewed the relationship between the water level and total storage volume, and discovered that the storage held around 50,000 ML less than previously thought when full. The new filling curve incorporates this change and reinforces the reliability of irrigators' and water users' entitlements," said Mr McGrath.
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Media Contact: Linda Nieuwenhuizen
Position: Manager Stakeholder Relations
Telephone: 03 5833 5776 or 0412 183 792