The next release of seasonal trade opportunity from the Goulburn to the Murray system opens on Monday 16 December. Based on current estimates, approximately 9 GL of Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity will be released.

The randomisation approach implemented for the rescheduled October opening will be used again in December.

• Applications for the Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity should be submitted during the submission window, between 7 am and 12 pm Monday 16 December 2024.
• During the submission window, water market participants should submit trade applications through My Water or the Broker Portal, and all trade applications during this period will be referred for manual processing.
• All Goulburn to Murray trade applications will continue to be referred to manual processing until the system returns to normal business on 17 December 2024.
• After the submission window closes, DEECA will undertake a randomisation process to determine a processing order, in the presence of an ACCC independent observer.
• Manual processing, in the order determined by the randomisation process, will occur on Tuesday 17 December 2024.
• Once manual processing of trade applications is complete, My Water and the Broker Portal will be offline for 30 minutes, before the system is re-opened for normal business.

To better understand this process and what it means for you, please review the attached Application Processing Procedure and Frequently Asked Questions that have been updated for December.

Estimated volume for Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity

The volume of trade opportunity released on 16 December is based on the following: 

Observed water use in the Torrumbarry Irrigation Area from 1 July 2024 to 30 November 2024 relative to the long-term historical average water use from 1 July to 30 November.

Any reduction in the Goulburn reserves due to spills that were quarantined at the start of the water year.

Torrumbarry Irrigation Area water use up to 30 November 2024 is around 110 GL, which is around 20% above the long-term average up to 30 November. The estimated 9 GL of trade opportunity is an indicative volume based on the best available data to date. The trade opportunity on 16 December may differ slightly from this estimate if spills occur and are recorded by the Resource Manager and adjustments as a result of use are made to the remaining reserves.

Find out more about how the Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity is calculated here.

Independent observation of the October trade opening

To provide water market participants with confidence in the integrity of the process, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) participated in the October trade opening as an independent observer. The ACCC observed the execution of the randomisation process and attested via written statement that the process was undertaken correctly, with no interference observed. This statement can be found below.

For any further information or assistance with the above, reach out to the Victorian Water Register team on waterregister.support@deeca.vic.gov.au.

PDF: Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Statement (November 2024) (148 kb)

PDF: Goulburn to Murray Trade Opening – New Process and Frequently Asked Questions (December) (356 kb)

PDF: Goulburn to Murray Trade Opportunity Trade Application Procedure.pdf (109 kb)