More water released from Lake Eildon

MORE water has been released from Lake Eildon as the storage’s management body seeks to control rising levels following spring inflows.

The latest move came over the grand final long weekend and follows a similar action by Goulburn-Murray Water in late August.

“At the start of July Lake Eildon was around 82-and-a-half per cent capacity,” said Guy Ortlipp, GMW’s river operations coordinator.

“Good inflow conditions have seen the storage start to rise, GMW commenced releases around the end of august to slow down the rate of fill of the storage.

“Rainfalls and inflow… have seen the storage rise and is now sitting just below 99 per cent full.

“GMW has increased releases at Lake Eildon to make room for further inflows. Releases are below minor flood levels, however, they will mean high flows are experienced downstream.”

Meanwhile, the water authority has also updated its water allocations for 2022-23.

As of 15 September and across all systems, GMW is predicting 100 per cent of high-reliability water shares for the coming season.

Some systems have also had their low-reliability water share numbers updated, with Murray currently listed at 12 per cent, Broken at 69 per cent, and Bullarook at 100 per cent.

The Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems are currently at zero per cent of their low-reliability water shares.

A statement from GMW said water trades were not currently possible but new trade rules for Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe and Loddon systems would come in affect next month.

“Further trade opportunities will be announced in mid-October and mid-December based on seasonal conditions. From December, net trade will be capped,” the statement said.