This article contains important information relating to July 2026 trade openings, including key dates, processes and estimated volumes. Information about end-of-water-year closing times for the Victorian Water Register (VWR) and application deadlines was published on Monday 11 May 2026.

Important opening dates for traders, brokers and irrigators

Wednesday 1 July 2026

• The Broken Trade Out and NSW to Vic trade opportunities open at 12 pm on Wednesday 1 July 2026. These openings will proceed with a first-in, first-served approach, with automated processing of applications.  

Thursday 2 July 2026

• The MDBA Barmah and Goulburn-to-Murray trade opportunities will have a 7-hour submission window from 7 am to 2 pm on Thursday 2 July 2026. Applications received in these openings will be processed using the randomisation approach.

Additional information for Barmah and Goulburn-to-Murray trade openings 

• During the submission window, water market participants should submit trade applications through My Water or the Broker Portal. All trade applications during this period will be referred for manual processing. 
• After the submission window closes:
  
  
  • DEECA and WaterNSW will undertake a joint randomisation process to determine the processing order for eligible Barmah applications, in the presence of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), acting as independent observer. 
  • DEECA will conduct a randomisation process for eligible Goulburn-to-Murray applications, also in the presence of the ACCC.
• Processing of eligible applications, in the order determined by the randomisation processes, will commence following completion of the randomisation.
• All applications will continue to be referred to manual processing until all applications submitted during the submission window have been processed.
• As advised last year, applications to ‘Trade Remaining Balance’ will not be eligible for randomisation for either trade opening. 

Market participants are encouraged to lodge applications at any point during the 7-hour submission window. Applications submitted at the start of the submission window have the same chance of success as those submitted later.

For additional information and frequently asked questions, visit the trade opening processes page.

Estimated volumes for trade opportunities 

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has advised that the July opening balance for the Barmah Narrows is expected to be around 24 gigalitres (GL). 

The opening volume for the July Goulburn-to-Murray trade opening is estimated to be around 112 GL.   

Trade opportunities, 1–2 July 2026: summary table 

For any further information or assistance, contact the VWR team at waterregister.support@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and the July trade openings

As previously noted, MFA has now been implemented on My Water and the Broker Portal. Following this important security update, users are now required, upon each login, to enter their username, password, and a one-time verification code sent to their registered email address.

With the Goulburn-to-Murray and Barmah July trade openings approaching, users are strongly encouraged to confirm they can access My Water in advance to avoid any delays or issues during the submission windows. If you have attempted to log in and are not receiving your MFA codes due to an incorrect or unknown registered email address, please contact waterregister.support@deeca.vic.gov.au or the DEECA Customer Control Centre on 13 61 86.