River Murray water allocations - update
South Australian River Murray irrigators’ allocations have increased to 74 per cent – improving from 68 per cent as announced on 15 August 2019.
DEW River Murray Water Delivery Manager Jarrod Eaton said the latest information provided by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) provides a 40 gigalitre improvement in South Australia’s water resource availability this year.
“The MDBA controlled storages continue to rise in response to recent rainfall and are currently 45 per cent capacity,” said Mr Eaton.
“It is important to note that latest rainfall forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is not showing any significant rainfall over the coming two weeks and that a drier than average October to December is likely across the basin.
“Rainfall-generated storage inflows is one of the primary contributing factors towards water resource improvements along with inflows from the Snowy Hydro Scheme into Hume Reservoir.
“The BoM’s forecast suggests that the rate of allocation increases we’ve observed in the last few announcements might slow a little in mid-September.
“We’re confident, however, further improvements to water allocations are likely over the coming months.”
The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) will continue to update its water allocations fortnightly while allocations remain below 100 per cent. The next update will be provided on 16 September 2019.
Click here for more information about water allocations and to view the Water Allocation Statement.
