Continuing rain in the Murray and Goulburn River catchments has raised hopes temporary water prices could be slashed in half, this season.
Northern farmers said they were optimistic allocations would rise to 100 per cent, by the end of this season, and there would be a sharp drop in prices.
Late last week, the Murray Darling Basin storages stood at 519GL, or 46 percent capacity, and by Monday the Hume Dam was up to 57pc. Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW) river operations planning manager Andrew Shields said the Eildon dam was up to 43pc.
“Over the last week or so, we have seen an increase of 100,000ML, or three pc, that’s been the best weekly increase we have seen this winter,” Mr Shields said. “More showers and fronts are forecast to come through, over the next few days. It’s probably not as much as last week - but the inflows should stay up. The Broken system is another we look after, it’s gone from 45pc to 60pc in the last week.”
There had been smaller increases on the Campaspe and Loddon systems, but they were “heading in the right direction,” he said.
Dairy farmer Tim Humphris, Tongala, said he had been tracking inflows into Eildon in recent months and was very confident. Several days ago, 32,000ML had flowed into the Eildon catchment in one day, which was the highest in 18 months. “Even though we are a long way behind the levels from last year, the inflows are substantially better, making great inroads into catching that up.” Mr Humpris, who has a 300 cow herd, said more water in the catchments would mean less demand for irrigation - and lower prices. “None of the irrigated crops will need finishing off, there will be enough natural rainfall,” Mr Humpris said.
Water prices might drop from highs of $245ML to around $100ML; last week they were trading around $157 on Waterpool. “We probably own about a quarter of the water we use, so the temporary market has a big impact on our business, what we do and our profitability,” Mr Humpris said.
Dairy farmer Di Bowles said she was cautiously optimistic Victorian irrigators would reach their allocation. She said G-MW would release its next set of allocations on Monday, and was probably still operating on a “dry” scenario. “I budgeted $180ML and I would think it is going to be $120-140,” Ms Bowles said.
She said irrigators would not need to water from August 15, when the season started, and were unlikely to have to turn on the taps until October. “Last year, everyone was watering from day one.” Cheaper water, or not having to use irrigation, would mean northern farmers were more competitive, in the current dairy downturn.
