Eildon flood fears raised, as dam is at nearly 100 per cent capacity

In a letter to Water Minister Harriet Shing landholders Jan Beer, Yea, and Goulburn River Trout, Alexandra, director Ed Meggitt, said at present Lake Eildon was sitting at 94 per cent capacity.

"That is unprecedently high for this time of year," they told the minister.

"Goulburn-Murray Water's best guidance on where the Lake volume will be at mid-May - the close of the irrigation season and the start of the water harvest season - is about 92pc.

"This leaves us very vulnerable to another major flood event in winter or spring of 2023, remembering that in a normal year, inflows to the Lake equate to about 30pc of total volume."

Ms Beer and Mr Meggitt asked the minister to make a "direction" to G-MW requesting that the lake level be held at below 95pc capacity for the remainder of 2023, or until two inquiries into last year's floods were completed.

There had already been above-average rain in the area, with the Eildon gauge recording 68.2 millimetres in March, against an average of 52.2mm.

In April the gauge had recorded 70mm for April, already exceeding the usual monthly total of 60.2mm.

"The release from Lake Eildon has been reduced to 1000 megalitres a day, while inflows on Sunday April 16 were recorded as 5000 ML and on Monday April 17 inflows were 6000 ML," the letter said.

"Consequently, the lake level is now rising."

They said urgent action was required, as the matter could not wait until the conclusion of the concurrent inquiries, one by state parliament and the other set up into the operating arrangements for Lake Eildon for Flood Mitigation purposes.

"The timelines around both inquiries leave us, on the Goulburn River, very exposed in 2023," Ms Beer and Mr Meggitt told the minister.

"There is a need for urgent action to manage the lake level this winter and spring. before the findings of the two inquiries are completed. We believe that we are in an emergency situation."

Molesworth beef producer John Scott, whose property was flooded last year, said the fact G-MW was not releasing more water was "just ridiculous.

"They are inviting a repeat of last year," Mr Scott said.

"This time last year, the dam was around the low 90pc full and they are not releasing any meaningful volumes.

"It's just been set up again, for exactly the same thing."

He said while Australia was not facing a La Nina, the Indian Ocean Dipole was active "and there still seems to be plenty of tropical moisture coming down," he said.

"We are at major risk of another flood, later on in the year."

Mr Scott said G-MW didn't appear to have a flood mitigation strategy.

"The whole strategy for managing the dams is for irrigation, environmental flows and the generation of electricity," he said.

"They are actually revenue generating activities."

But flooding properties, downstream of Lake Eildon, destroyed revenue, he said.

"The cost of the floods would outweigh the revenue by a long way."

Mr Meggitt said the target of the infill curve for the lake was to have it at 100pc on October 1.

"That is going to coincide precisely with the heavy spring rains and they will certainly hit it, because the dam is at 94pc now," he said.

Recent rain had depressed irrigation demand, "especially with the autumn break we have had, it's one out of the books - it's a beauty.

"There has been no demand - there is more than 1 million megalitres of water in spillable accounts.

"People are carrying that water over, they just haven't used it, and they are going to lose it all because the lake will spill," he said.

"G-MW just keep defending their status quo of their operating rules but those same rules let us down last year, terribly.

"We need to see those rules change and they need to meet the obligations of the act, which say they need to have plans and procedures in place to mitigate flooding out of impoundments."

G-MW Water Storage Services general manager Martina Cusack said the organisation was closely monitoring Lake Eildon's levels and catchment conditions, as well as the Bureau of Meteorology rainfall forecasts to update storage inflow projections and make decisions about releasing water to manage the rate of fill.

"Depending on downstream tributary flows, we have the capability of releasing up to 300GL/month from Lake Eildon (~9pc of the storage volume) without impacting private property," Ms Cusack said.

"We are currently releasing about 1,500ML/day to meet downstream demands and will adjust releases when required to manage the rate fill.

"We will meet with residents and concerned community members over coming weeks to discuss current management plans."

A state government spokesperson said G-MW was responsible for managing storage levels in Lake Eildon.

"The current storage management rules and the relevant Bulk Entitlement allow GMW to manage high inflows and make releases from Lake Eildon without an emergency order being issued under the Water Act," the spokesperson said.

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