THE resource manager for northern Victoria says there has been no change to risk of spill in the Murray system.
Mark Bailey said the possibility of further deductions from spillable water accounts and current conditions mean a low risk of spill declaration is not yet possible.
“Releases from Lake Hume to manage inflows during December 2021 may influence the January 2022 seasonal determination for Murray low-reliability water shares,” Dr Bailey said.
“A low risk of spill cannot be declared while that potential influence exists,” he said.
“Our assessment must consider all storage operations between seasonal determination updates.
“The risk of further spill from Lake Hume is decreasing as time passes, but a low risk declaration cannot be made in January 2022 with Lake Hume close to 99 per cent of capacity.”
Allocation trade from New South Wales to Victoria is limited to the lesser of a net annual volume of 200GL or a volume that keeps the risk of spill in the Victoria’s share of both Hume and Dartmouth reservoirs below 50 per cent.
Trade adjustments will occur in Dartmouth where the risk of spill is less than 5 per cent.
The current risk of spill in the Murray system allows 68GL of net trade from New South Wales to Victoria to keep the risk at Dartmouth below 50 per cent.
The volume available for trade has reduced since the last announcement due to increasing storage levels at Dartmouth. This volume will be updated with each risk of spill announcement.
Customers can find out more about trade opportunities and a trial of improved trade adjustment methods on the Victorian Water Register website.
The risk of spill in the Murray system in 2021/22 will be updated on Thursday, February 10.
