Southern Riverina irrigators have called for clarification over what will happen to last season’s carry over water.
Deniboota Landholders’ Association chairman Alastair Starritt New South Wales had 27 per cent Murray Valley carryover water.
“It doesn’t mean all farmers are carrying over water from last year, and certainly does not mean food producers have access to 52pc of their entitlement,” Mr Starritt said.
“Farmers can carry over 50 percent of their entitlement in NSW Murray from one year to the next, but now that water rights have been detached from property rights it means anyone can own water.” He said 454GL had been carried over from last year, but the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) superannuation companies and speculators also all owned water in the pool.
“Who owns how much carryover is unclear,” he said.
While Murray Valley irrigators received only 23pc of allocation, water traded for up to $300, early last season.
And Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder David Papps said state water authorities ensured he followed the same rules and regulations as all equivalent water licence holders, regarding carryover and trade.
“We do not affect allocations,” Mr Papps said.
He said recent good rains meant nature was doing what environmental water could not do.
“Nature delivers big, widespread and occasionally persistent floods across the landscape,” he said.
“It is important to understand that there are insufficient volumes of environmental water available anywhere in the system to replicate these types of flows and we wouldn’t do it in any case as it would involve unacceptable impacts on farms, towns and infrastructure.”
