Transcript
Chloe Warburton
Welcome to Talking Water with GMW, where we discuss all things water. In this episode, we are joined by Penny Clarke from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. Penny takes us through the Place of Take Approvals framework, a new approach to water delivery entitlements that comes into effect this November. We have episodes in a variety of topics, so be sure to give them a listen. You can find them on the GMW. website or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Chloe Warburton
So what is the Place of Take Approvals framework?
Penny Clarke
It is a stronger framework for water delivery entitlements that is planned to come into effect on the 20th of November 2023. Importantly, it won't affect water shares, water delivery, entitlements, it's about the right to have your allocated water delivered at a time and location you need it. These changes apply in Victoria's declared systems, which for Goulburn Murray Water is the regulated Murray, Goulburn, Ovens, Broken, Campaspe, Loddon, and Bullarook systems.
And the changes will protect existing water users rights to have water delivered down rivers and provide flexibility for users to manage their own delivery risks. It will also bring everyone's rights to have water delivered both in rivers and district users under the same approval framework.
Chloe Warburton
What was the driver for making these changes?
Penny Clarke
The changes have been driven by increasing delivery risks in the Murray. The Murray River is actively managed to deliver allocated water to users, but it is getting harder to deliver water, particularly downstream of Barmah at the time and location water users want it. Fortunately, the need to ration water due to delivery challenges has been very rare.
To date, river operators have largely been able to avoid rationing Murray River irrigators from taking water due to delivery challenges, with the only rationing occurring in 2002. However, as the capacity of the Barmah Choke has been declining and water demands through the system have changed, we need to have a framework in place which steps out how people will be restricted when it can't be avoided.
That enables water users to manage their own water delivery risks. So in the rare event that all demands can't be met, the available water needs to be shared between water users. This means that water use is temporarily restricted for irrigation district customers in proportion to their delivery share and for river diversions in proportion to their extraction share.
The Place to Take approvals won't reduce the risk of restrictions. However, it will make it clear who has the right to take water when those delivery challenges mean restrictions can't be avoided. While the changes are driven by increasing delivery risks in the Murray, they are being introduced across the state in those declared systems so that if risks to emerge in those systems in the future, we have clear arrangements in place about the rights for sharing water.
Chloe Warburton
And so what do changes actually mean for water users?
Penny Clarke
The commencement of the new framework on the 20th of November this year. The places where users can take water from their allocation account currently will be defined as Place of take Approvals. This means all the approvals to take water will be managed under the same part of the Act, and therefore anyone taking without authorisation is subject to the same enforcement provisions.
For river diverters, so that people that have the pump on the river, the new framework will also mean that their extraction share is moved off the work license and on to Place of Take Approvals. This will make it an enduring right extraction. Here is a condition on the works license, which defines a customer's ability to take water when deliveries are rationed.
It does not come into play until a rationing event has been declared. In most systems, extraction has never been used as rationing of deliveries has not been required. And we often hear that river diverters aren't aware of their extraction share. So I encourage all river diverters to check the extraction share on their works license so they understand more about how to prepare for the potential of shortfalls.
For irrigation district customers a delivery share is their equivalent right to a share of the water available during delivery restriction. There is no change to the delivery share proposed because they already are enduring rights and they're effectively capped by the nature of irrigation district infrastructure.
Chloe Warburton
So there's some big changes happening around there. Will these changes impact customer bills in anyway?
Penny Clarke
No, there are no new charges associated with place to take approvals. The changes are just converting those existing approvals to the new framework
Chloe Warburton
And where can customers go to get more information about the new framework. Is there somewhere online?
Penny Clarke
Yes, there's a range of information and materials about the new framework available on the Victorian Water Register website that includes some short factsheets as well as some 90 second animations about what the changes will mean for different types of water users. If you have more time and what the data are, there's also a 60 minute webinar recorded by Agriculture Victoria, which can also be accessed from that Victorian Water Register page.
And as I mentioned earlier, for anyone who wants to check their extraction share on their works license, you can download a copy of record of your works license from the Victorian Water Register website or contact GMW directly.
Chloe Warburton
Finally, what else should customers in the Murray downstream of Barmah be aware of with this?
Penny Clarke
Customers in this area should be aware that while the rivers are actively manage to avoid restrictions. Delivery risks are increasing and may not always be able to be avoided. In terms of the Place of Take framework, the changes will enable caps on extraction share to be set to provide existing users with more certainty that their rights will be protected.
Consultations been underway on a proposed cap in the Murray downstream, alongside rules for trialing extraction share, which provide users flexibility to manage their risks without impacting on anyone else's delivery rights. This follows the Minister for Waters decisions since 2019 on works licenses to better manage extraction share in the Murray. As well as this, it is worth noting that Murray Darling Basin Authority has been leading a program of work with Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia to better understand and manage these increasing delivery risks in the Murray downstream of Tana and during summer.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority publishes online information about the current delivery risk in its weekly report.
Chloe Warburton
That's great, Penny, thank you so much for all of that information and hopefully it's helpful to all the irrigators out there. As you said, more information can be found on websites. You can phone Goulburn Murray Water for some help, please don't be afraid to reach out to see what these changes will be.