An allocation account records allocations  made to your water share throughout the year.  It keeps track of any water you hold that is available to use or trade.

Your allocation account is maintained securely on the Water Register.  Along with allocations made to your water entitlements, it records all your use, trade and carryover.

The account is sometimes called an ABA, which is shorthand for ‘allocation bank account’.  However the word  ‘bank’  isn’t used widely anymore as it was confused with financial banks.

How it works

All your water shares must be linked to an allocation account to record the allocation available to you.

Allocation accounts can also be linked to one or more water-use licences or water-use registrations so that the water can be used on land.

You can have more than one water share linked to the same allocation account, but each water share must have the same trading zone as the account.

Who holds the account

From 1 July 2014 allocation account holders do not change if a water share is linked to the account or removed from it.

This means you can link your water share to an allocation account that you do not hold and where your name is not on the account. This is legally called a standing direction where future allocations made to the water share go to the account holder.

Until 30 June 2014 the holders of an allocation account were usually the owners of the water shares linked to the account. If no water shares were linked to the account, the account holders were the owners of any water-use licences or registrations linked to the account. These account holders could change when a water entitlement was linked or removed from the account.

Using your allocation

When you have allocation in your account you can either

• use it on land linked to your account by a water-use licence or registration, or
• sell  it to other allocation account holders by trading it to another account.

Trading zone

The trading zone of your allocation account decides where you can buy and sell allocation.

What happens to unused allocation

If carryover is allowed in your water system, you can carry over your unused allocation depending on the water entitlements linked to your account.

You can use the carryover calculator online to understand how carryover rules work for your account and the water entitlements linked to it.

Your allocation account online

You can get online access to your allocation accounts on the Victorian Water Register website. Find out more here.

Here you can quickly and easily:

• see up to date allocation account balances and recent transactions
• generate account statements for the current season
• see your statements for previous seasons, and
• apply to trade allocation from your account.

There is now faster and cheaper and automated approval  of allocation trades submitted online to the Water Register’s secure website. Water users and brokers can submit applications online using My water. Most trades can be approved immediately and you can get water into your allocation accounts more quickly.

Your allocation account statement

An annual statement is sent to the allocation account holders around July each year. 

It gives you a summary of the allocations, water use, trade and carryover linked to the allocation account over the previous water year. 

 Guides to reading your allocation account statement are available below.

Download PDF Guide to your allocation account statement - Murray, Goulburn, Campaspe (PDF - 164 Kb)

Download PDF Guide to your allocation account statement - Broken, Loddon, Bullarook (PDF - 123 Kb)

Download PDF Guide to your allocation account statement - Ovens (PDF - 123 Kb)

Download PDF Guide to your allocation account statement - Southern Victoria (PDF - 124 Kb)

Note that these statements are only available for allocation accounts for water entitlements in declared water systems.