Coliban Water announced today that allocations for the 2020/21 rural season will open at 100 per cent.
Executive General Manager Climate and Population Adaptation Steve Healy said the announcement means that Coliban Water’s 1,366 rural customers will have access to their full licence volume when the season opens in the late spring.
“Our three catchment storages on the Coliban River near Kyneton are in a strong position after above-average autumn rainfall. They are currently at 73 per cent, holding 50,468 megalitres.
“Our annual inflow for 2019/20 was approximately 35,000 megalitres, which is just over 10,000 megalitres more than last year. Rural water usage last season was around 4,400 megalitres.
“Our catchment storages are the only source of supply for towns in our Coliban Southern system, which includes Castlemaine and Kyneton.
“In making our water resources decisions we consider all customers supplied by our storages - whilst always aiming to maintain two years of supply in store.
“Our Coliban Northern system towns, which include Bendigo, can access water from our storages, from our 18 per cent share of Lake Eppalock and from the Goulburn System via the Goldfields Superpipe,” said Mr Healy.
Coliban Water has nine separate water supply systems across its region, each with different supply source and level of water security – all reliant on rainfall over winter and spring.
“We’re focused on the challenges of water security and climate change outlined in our Strategy 2030, our 10-year plan to achieve our vision of Water to Live, Grow and Enjoy.
“Strategy 2030 guides us to ensure there is enough water to sustain and grow economic activity and investment for our region.
“Our 504 kilometres of rural channels and pipelines are a vital supply network for local agriculture and our rural season allocations underpin on-farm investment decisions,” said Mr Healy.
Rural water deliveries will start towards the end of October 2020, depending on demand. Rural customers will be sent further information in the post once channel rosters have been finalised.
Rural customers on our recycled water channel systems of Ascot and Cockatoo Hill will also receive 100 per cent of allocation.
For further information see our Rural, Reservoir levels and Water security pages on our website, www.coliban.com.au
Last updated on 01 Jul 2020