It's been said that even given drought conditions, we have enough water in storage for the needs of irrigators.
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So, a rough look at the facts, and history, could be helpful.
In Victoria, prior to the unbundling of water rights, there was ample water in the majority years for 100 per cent delivery.
In most years, farmers could budget on 130 per cent. To this, you could sometimes add off-quota water that was made available when rivers or systems were in flood.
Also taken into account was that some water rights were not utilised. So, what happened?
With water being freed up for trade and with irrigation systems needing upgrading, the government stepped in and did a trade — money for capital works in return for water to be returned to the environment. Then came the water traders, who were able to buy water and either use it or sell it back in to market.
These two factors have impinged on irrigator viability: they have become the tail wagging the dog.
Water traders must be excluded from the market, except where water is bought outright or traded between landholders to be used within 12 months for irrigation.
Carryover water entitlements should be severely restricted. The biggest blight on the irrigation system is environmental water.
Currently, it's estimated 50 per cent of water in storages is due to the government's ongoing environmental policy. It has been reported that one million megalitres a year has been appropriated from volume available to Victorian irrigators.
No wonder the system is grinding to a halt. Reflect on the fact that storages were built for flood mitigation and the supply water for irrigation and local communities.
This water has traditionally been used for profitable agricultural production that has provided jobs and export income. Now, dairy production is plummeting as the price of scarce water supplies has driven the price to unmanageable levels.
Water is selling for $500 a megalitre, well above the $300 tipping point for dairy production. Dairy farmers cannot compete in the market with almond growers able to pay in excess of $500 a megalitre.
If one million megalitres was available in the market, it stands to reason prices would fall. No-one denies the importance of river health, however water is being shoved down rivers out of season and has caused river bank erosion and damage to native grasses and fauna.
A solution would be to insist the environmental flows only be released from May 15 to August 15, and a large percentage of any environmental water left in storages should be returned to the irrigation availability pool each year. The supply of environmental water should come from upgraded storage or newly built storages.
Land has been bought around lakes William Hovell and Buffalo, and other storages have the ability to be increased. Irrigators have been blackmailed into a system upgrade that only has to deliver 50 per cent of previous volumes.