Water allocations for the 2022/23 rural season will open at 100 per cent for the 12th year in a row.
Once the season opens in the late Spring, Coliban Water’s 1,365 rural customers will have access to their full licence water volume for their property, which is supplied by 504 kilometres of rural channels and pipelines.
Executive General Manager Strategy Jarrah O’Shea said the announcement is good news for rural customers and allows them to plan ahead for their families, businesses and livelihood.
“Our rural customers rely on this water allocation throughout the warmer months to sustain their properties, whether that’s running their orchards, vineyards, stock or for lifestyle,” he said.
The decision for 100 per cent allocations is based on the current storage levels.
“Our storages on the Coliban River are at 81% of capacity; and our share of Lake Eppalock is at 93% of capacity.
“We are holding around 7 gigalitres more in storage than at the same time last year and the outlook is for wetter than average conditions over the coming months” Mr O’Shea said.
Rural water channel deliveries will start towards the end of October 2022, depending on demand. Rural customers will be sent further information once channel rosters have been finalised.
Mr O’Shea added that climate change has resulted in 53% less flows into our storages since 1997 and we will have to adapt to an even hotter and drier climate in the future.
“When making any of our water resources decisions we want to ensure there is enough water to sustain and grow economic activity and investment for our region” he said.
“We’ve just released our 2023-2028 Pricing Submission Community Draft, which outlines a record $435 million investment in capital expenditure including critical investments in water security. We want our customers to view the plan on Connect Coliban and let us know what they think.
“It’s a question of preparing for tomorrow while being fair to customers today. We’ve been engaging with customers to deliver this plan and we want to know if they think we’ve got it right,” he said.
To have your say on the Community Draft visit Connect Coliban. For further information on the rural season visit our website.