• 10% non-water user limit
    This rule was removed in 2009.

    When it was set at 1 July 2007 it was a limit on the proportion of the total volume of water shares in each water supply system that could be held as unassociated water shares.

    In each water system there were separate 10% limits for high-reliability and low-reliability water shares.
  • 4% limit
    This rule was removed in 2014.

    It was a limit on the volume of annual net trade of the water shares out of an irrigation area in northern Victoria.

    The 4% limit for each irrigation area was determined on 1 July at the start of each water year.

    Sometimes called the 4% cap.
  • ABA
    See allocation account.
  • Allocation
    1.Water that is actually available to use or trade in any given year, including new allocations and carryover.

    2. The water that is actually in the dam in any given year is allocated against water shares. The seasonal allocation is the percentage of your water share volume available under current resource conditions, as determined by the resource manager.

    For example, in a dry year a 50% allocation to your 100 ML water share gives you 50 ML of water available to use or trade. A 100% allocation means that you have your full water share volume available.

    In northern Victoria the resource manager uses seasonal determination instead of allocation when allocating water to entitlements. Seasonal determination is the term used in bulk entitlements and Victoria’s Water Act 1989.
  • Allocation account
    An account to keep track of water available for use or trade.

    This account records allocations made against entitlements throughout the irrigation season, as well as water trades and use.

    The allocation account is sometimes referred to as an ABA as shorthand for allocation bank account. However, the word ‘bank’ isn’t used widely anymore, as it was confused with financial banks.
  • Allocation bank account (ABA)
    The term previously used for allocation account.

    The word bank isn’t used widely anymore, as it was confused with financial banks.

    But the acronym ABA is sometimes used to refer to an allocation account.
  • Allocation trade
    The transfer of a volume of allocation water between a seller and buyer.

    Water is traded within a current irrigation season.

    Previously this was known as temporary trade and some people still use this term.
  • Annual delivery allowance (ADA)
    A volume in megalitres that can be delivered under the delivery share for a rate set by the water corporation.

    Deliveries above this annual delivery allowance attract a higher casual use infrastructure fee for Goulburn-Murray Water customers.

    The annual delivery allowance is determined by taking the delivery share number as expressed in megalitres per day, multiplied by 270 for irrigation areas and by 365 for pumped irrigation districts.
  • Annual use limit
    The maximum volume of water in an irrigation season that may be used on the land described in a water-use licence or water-use registration.
  • Associated works
    Works that are used with the primary works. For example, where there is a pump on the river feeding water into a storage dam, the storage dam is an associated work.
  • Authority
    An Authority is a bulk entitlement holder under the Water Act 1989, and includes water corporations, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, and power generation companies.
  • Ballot
    A lottery used to decide the order of processing applications to transfer water shares where there is high demand and a limit has been imposed, for example the 4% limit on trade out of an irrigation area.
  • Bore
    Usually a hole constructed by a licensed driller to reach groundwater.
    Bores can also include a well or artificial excavation.

    Any person who wants to drill a bore must have a works licence.
  • Bulk entitlement
    A right to use and supply water in a waterway, water in storage works of a water corporation, and groundwater.

    The bulk entitlement sets out the amount of water that can be taken or stored under specific conditions or specifications, up to a maximum volume.

    Water corporations and other specified bodies defined in the Water Act 1989 can hold bulk entitlements, either as a source bulk entitlement –an entitlement to harvest water directly from a water source - or a delivery bulk entitlement –an entitlement to be supplied water from another water corporation's dam or within a system regulated by the works of another corporation.

    Bulk entitlements can be traded temporarily or permanently.
  • Bulk entitlement holder
    Water corporations, the Victorian Environmental Water Holder and other bodies specified in the Water Act, such as electricity companies, can hold a bulk entitlement.

    Bulk entitlement holders have to meet conditions and obligations set out under the Act.
  • Bundled entitlement
    An entitlement that includes rights to allow both the take and use of water.

    The most common types of bundled entitlements are take and use licences, supplies by agreement, water allowances and registration licences.
  • Carryover
    An arrangement that allows a water entitlement holder to take unused water allocations from one season into the next season to use and/or trade.

    Carryover rules depend on the declared system in which allocations are held.
  • Casual use
    Water deliveries above the annual delivery allowance are called casual use, and attract a casual use infrastructure fee.
  • Casual use infrastructure fee
    The fee that applies to each megalitre of water delivered during the season which is more than the annual delivery allowance (ADA).
  • Catchment dam
    A pond, lake or basin, whether natural or artificial, for the storage, regulation and control of water in an area of land where run-off from rainfall goes into one river system.