It may have taken 15 years, but all Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW) storages will approach or reach capacity this month, marking a drastic improvement in conditions for irrigators, recreational users and local communities who value northern Victoria water storages.
G-MW Acting Water Resources Manager Dr Mark Bailey said it was a remarkable period that spanned from managing storages as low as 3% to now 99.5% recorded at Lake Eildon this morning or higher as has occurred at storages including Lake Eppalock and Lake Nillahcootie.
"G-MW has been managing water storages in northern Victoria since 1995, so we've experienced the vast array of natural conditions over a relatively short time. We have relied on the knowledge of our predecessors in the Rural Water Corporation for the better times, and learned a great deal about our storages and systems during the worst of the drought.
"Right now, we are again looking at those operations needed to deal with very high storage volumes and the concerns that the community have for flooding," Dr Bailey said.
Our flood operating procedures aim to provide a degree of flood mitigation wherever possible. The existence of the storage itself provides a large buffer to flows and delays the timing of the natural flood peak," said Dr Bailey.
"Our staff work closely with the State Emergency Service who are responsible for Emergency Assistance and the Bureau of Meteorology, who issue flood warnings for communities."
In preparing for predicted rainfall G-MW advises the potential for higher releases of water downstream of G-MW water storages to occur over the next week.
"Irrigation demand is increasing with the recent warm weather, and will peak in coming months as we head into summer," said Dr Bailey. "The storage levels may fall soon as customers take advantage of the best water availability they have had for several seasons."
G-MW monitors its water storages 24 hours a day 7 days a week and monitors Bureau of Meteorology rainfall forecasts closely for impacts on storage volume and irrigation delivery.
For updates on water storage levels that can be emailed to you daily, weekly or monthly subscribe to the free e-dams service at http://www.g-mwater.com.au/
If you'd like to be kept update with Land and On-Water Management Plans happening across G-MW water storages - register your interest and receive the regular 'e-storage update' newsletter by subscribing at www.g-mwater.com.au/storages
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