The National Party has launched a campaign to pressure the state government to refer the Lake Buffalo expansion to the federal government for investigation.
Opposition Water spokeswoman Steph Ryan, party leader Peter Walsh and Ovens MP Tim McCurdy believe expansion could be a game-changer for Victoria.
"We should examine building Big Buffalo to make water supplies in northern Victoria more reliable," Ms Ryan said.
"It's also an opportunity to save up to 130 gigalitres of evaporative losses by reducing the system's reliance on Lake Victoria in south-west NSW.
"We have an ideal opportunity to refer this project to the federal government's new National Water Grid Authority for investigation, but Victorian Labor has flatly refused."
The three launched a petition, calling for the decision not to refer the project to the authority to be reversed.
Big Buffalo would investigate increasing the existing dam capacity of 23,900ML - just 6 per cent of the mean annual flow of the Buffalo River.
It would also connect the dam to Lake Nillahcootie via a pipeline.
Mr Walsh said the water that has spilt at Lake Buffalo could be bolstering allocations this year and putting downward pressure on temporary water prices.
"Climate experts are predicting we will see more intense rainfall events and longer periods of drought and we need to capture that rain when it falls to guard our communities against climate change," Mr Walsh said.
"The government can't continue to sit on its hands while irrigators in northern Victoria face a crisis due to a lack of available water."
Mr McCurdy said the expansion would be a boon for tourism in the region, as well as providing greater flood mitigation for towns like Myrtleford and Wangaratta.
"Big Buffalo has been on the cards for a long time in north east Victoria," Mr McCurdy said.
"We believe there is an opportunity, while the federal government is looking for big, nation-shaping projects, to see whether it can stack up."
But Water Minister Lisa Neville said the National Party didn't expand Big Buffalo when they had the chance - presumably because they realised it would reduce reliability for existing irrigators and increase allocation prices.
"Every drop of water in northern Victoria is fully allocated so this project would not make more water available," Ms Neville said.
It would take water off people who had entitlements.
"It would also require changes to the diversion limits under the Murray Darling Basin Plan, which the State Nationals agreed to and the Federal Government are responsible for.
"This is nothing more than a diversionary tactic which only highlights the Nationals lack of understanding when it comes to Victoria's water security."
While storing water in Lake Buffalo, rather than Lake Victoria, would reduce evaporation losses by up to 30gigalitres a year, it would be more than negated by transmission losses of between 30-40GL.
Pumping water through the Broken and Goulburn Rivers would also add to high flows and exacerbate the current environmental damage.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
