Victorian Water Register

15 May 2012:

A fact sheet about transferring water with land is now available here.

Transferring water entitlements fact sheet (PDF - 398 KB)

15 May 2012:

From 1 June 2012 additional information will be included on the Copy of Record for Murray, Goulburn and Campaspe water shares to provide better information for buyers on the potential impacts of carryover recorded against a water share. Updated information is now available here

19 Mar 2012:

The Minister for Water has approved changes to the trading rules to suspend some allocation trade in order to protect next season’s allocations to Victorian water entitlement holders.

The temporary suspension applies to trade of water allocation -

• from New South Wales to Victoria; and
• from the Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems to the Victorian River Murray system, or to interstate.

The suspension is the same as for last year. It applies to applications received after close of business on 19 March 2012, and will be in place until 30 June 2012. Further details are available in the attached explanatory note and media release.

Temporary trade suspensions - explanatory note (112 KB)

Victoria suspends some water allocation trade (51 KB)

19 Mar 2012:

The Minister for Water has announced that carryover rules will remain the same for the coming 2012-13 season.

No change to carryover rules for 2012-13

A review of carryover provisions is continuing, but any changes out of this process will not come into place until 1 July 2013.

20 Jan 2012:

A review of how spillable water account provisions are working on the Murray, Goulburn and Campaspe systems is being carried out. More information is available in the document below.

Carryover review in 2012

24 Dec 2011:

A report on water trade in Victoria in 2010/11 is now available here

30 Nov 2011:

The Minister for Water has approved changes to the trading rules to allow additional exemptions to the 4% limit for certain Commonwealth purchases. The new exemptions are available to -

• transfers to the Commonwealth that were refused in the July 2011 ballot due to the 4% limit - these can now be approved if a new application is submitted for the same transfer by 28 February 2012;

• other transfers to the Commonwealth arising from tenders it conducted in 2010/11 - applications must be submitted by 28 February 2012;

• transfers to the Goulburn-Broken CMA as part of an expanded on-farm savings program.

These exemptions have been made as part of the Victorian Food Bowl Modernisation Agreement announced on 18 October 2011. They will allow many sellers with Commonwealth contracts to finalise their arrangements. The Trading Rules have been updated and are available here.

7 Oct 2011:

A credit/debit card payment form is now available for use when submitting applications to water corporations.

13 Sept 2011:

A correction has been made to the calculation of back-trade opportunities to recognise that the traded-out volume carried over from last year may spill. To see the affected back-trade opportunities report click here.

31 Aug 2011:

The proposal to phase out cheques as a payment method to the Water Registrar, which was previously advised in May 2011, has been deferred. For more information please read Customer Information Bulletin No. 131/2011.

19 Aug 2011:

The ballot process for applications affecting the 4% limit on trade out of irrigation areas was completed on 19 August 2011. The current status of the limit can be found here

3 Aug 2011:

A report showing the volume of water allocated or carried over in each of the regulated systems that is currently available for use or trade can now be accessed here

29 July 2011:

Allocation bank account statements for 2010-11 are being mailed to Victorian entitlement holders in early August. For more information click here

27 July 2011:

DSE is upgrading the security of this website. Registered users have been notified individually that their password will be reset on 19 August 2011. A new password will be sent to each registered email address on that day.

10 July 2011:

Information for buyers of a water share on the potential impacts of carryover recorded against a water share is now available here

1 July 2011:

A ballot process is underway to ensure equitable management of applications that affect the 4% limit on trade out of irrigation areas. The current status of the limit can be found here.

28 June 2011:

The format of the Copy of Record for water shares and other entitlements recorded in the Victorian Water Register has been updated to show the address of each holder of the entitlement. This reflects a recent amendment to the Water Act 1989 so that addresses are no longer classified as information that must not be publicly available from the water register. To see a sample Copy of Record for a water share click here.

22 June 2011:

Information is being advertised in rural newspapers updating northern Victorian irrigators on preparing for the 2011-12 irrigation season. The advertisement can be viewed below.

Preparing for irrigation season 2011-12 (PDF - 864 Kb)

6 June 2011:

Victorian Water Register fees for some applications will increase on Friday 1 July 2011. For more information click here.

6 May 2011:

Methods for payments to Water Registrar

From 1 November 2011, the Water Registrar will no longer accept cheques as a payment method. This only affects payments to the Water Registrar for recording water share transactions, and not applications to rural water corporations.

Preferred payment methods to the Water Registrar include:

• cash / money orders
• credit card
• debit card
• direct debit

Trustees

The Water Registrar has also determined that a trustee capacity cannot be recorded on water shares.

For more information please read Customer Information Bulletin No. 129/2011.

3 May 2011:

The Trading Rules for Declared Systems were amended on 11 April 2011 to temporarily suspend allocation trade from the Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems to the Victorian River Murray system, or to interstate.

The amendment mistakenly treated the Lower Broken Creek (zone 6B) as part of the Goulburn when it should have been treated as part of the Murray. An explanation of this is given below.

This has now been corrected by a further amendment to the Trading Rules (gazetted on 3 May 2011) to include zone 6B in the suspension of trades from the Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems.

This further amendment has immediate effect.

Background

In making the 11 April 2011 amendment, the Lower Broken Creek (zone 6B) was classified as part of the Goulburn. This was because the water shares there are largely supplied from the Goulburn system (via the East Goulburn Main Channel), and normally the zone has similar trading openings to the Lower Goulburn.

However, this classification was incorrect. The water shares in zone 6B are actually Murray system water shares. The water shares receive Murray allocation, with top-up water coming from the Murray system when Goulburn allocations are lower. Their carryover is deemed to be held in Murray storages, and so is relatively safe from spill in the coming season.

Trade from the Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems to zone 6B would create the same issues as trade to the other Murray trading zones (zones 6 and 7). The water owed to the Murray from Eildon to support this trade is more likely to spill, with adverse consequences on future Murray allocations. Hence the suspension has been extended to cover trades from the Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems to zone 6B.

Note that, as a result of classifying zone 6B as 'Murray', trade from zone 6B to the Murray and to interstate is no longer suspended.

11 Apr 2011:

The Minister for Water has approved changes to the trading rules to suspend some allocation trade in order to protect next season’s allocations to Victorian water entitlement holders on the Murray system.

The temporary suspension begins immediately for trade of water allocation -

• from New South Wales to Victoria, and

• from the Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems to the Victorian River Murray system, or to interstate.

The suspensions of trade will be in place until 1 July 2011, but may need to be reinstated in certain circumstances.

High Murray-Darling Basin storage levels, huge volumes of unused irrigation water and Victoria’s progressive carryover rules have converged to create exceptional challenges for managing the impacts of allocation trade. This temporary suspension is required because these trades are increasing the obligation to deliver water to users on the Murray but are not supplying a matching volume of additional water. The reasons for this are:

• Trade from NSW. Under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement accounting rules, any trade from NSW to Victoria immediately transfers water to Victoria’s account in Hume Dam. But when Victoria’s share of Hume is full – as it is now - Victoria cannot store the water and does not gain any water to support the trade.

• Trade from Goulburn, Campaspe or Loddon. If there was a spill from Lake Eildon in the new season, it would wipe out some or all of the water to be supplied to the Murray or interstate.

Victoria is a strong supporter of trade and regrets the necessity to put these suspensions in place. But it is unfair to allow trade if it is done at the expense of Victorian Murray entitlement holders.

A copy of the Minister for Water's media release is available below. Note that while the Minister's announcement was made on Wednesday 13 April 2011, the suspension actually came into effect when it was gazetted on Monday 11 April 2011.

Walsh - Victoria suspends some water allocation trade_13April2011 (PDF - 34 Kb)

25 Mar 2011:

The Minister for Water has approved changes to the trading rules to make allocation trade from interstate subject to the same buyer 'holding limit' that operates for trade within Victoria. This change is necessary to mitigate the impact on other water users of people trading from interstate to access Victoria's liberal carryover arrangements.

8 Mar 2011:

Our FAQs have been updated with an explanation about receiving water allocations on the day a water share transfer is recorded.