Risk of later summer water shortfall for Murray River users

Murray-Darling Basin Authority has updated its annual operating outlook and after it assessed the full range of scenarios from extremely dry to very wet, the "risk of a shortfall was evident".

MDBA executive director Andrew Reynolds said the movement of water in the river system was "being finely balanced".

"There is an increased risk of a shortfall should there be a sudden spike in usage in parts of the river where water is not readily available," Mr Reynolds said.

"This year the outlook considers the shortfall risk to be greatest in late summer because the higher demand for water resulting from improved water availability is tempered by capacity limitations of the Barmah Choke and the limit to delivery from the Goulburn Inter-Valley Trade account."

The Menindee Lakes remain too low to contribute to meeting demands in the Murray River at the moment.

"With the forecast of wetter weather due to La Nina, we're hopeful conditions will change from a moderate to a wetter outlook for the coming months, which would help lower the shortfall risk as more of the demand for water is met by local rainfall," Mr Reynolds said.

"While we hope for good rain, the MDBA plans for a range of conditions-nobody knows for sure what the weather will bring.

"If conditions revert to a drier scenario, we need to be ready for it, so we continue to operate the system as effectively and efficiently as possible."