Thursday 10 August is a key date in the Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) calendar, as it is the day customers can begin placing water orders for the 2023/24 irrigation season.
The season itself begins on 15 August, when we start delivering water to irrigators.
It is a quick changeover as we pivot from focusing on winter maintenance works to delivering orders from our customers.
In the past three months, we dedicated a significant amount of resources to our annual Winter Works program.
The program takes place during the irrigation off-season, allowing us to dewater channels and undertake various projects that we are unable to do during the irrigation season. These include channel bank and gate repairs, bridge works, desilting and weed treatment.
Despite the difficulties posed by a wetter-than-usual June, it has been a very productive few months.
Since the end of the 2022/23 irrigation season on 16 May, we have refurbished more than 30km of channel, treated weeds in more than 200km of channel, and completed 25 channel bank and structure upgrades.
We have had about 60 staff and a further 40 contractors working on these projects throughout the Winter Works program.
It has been a busy time for these staff, in often challenging conditions. I am grateful for their efforts in ensuring the success of the program.
The works will improve the reliability and consistency of flows throughout our channel network, while also ensuring the longevity of our infrastructure.
Our focus now shifts to the upcoming irrigation season.
The water planners from our 24/7 team are now returning from a well-earned break to help carry out customer orders.
Water orders are placed through the WaterLINE system, which is available online or by phoning GMW’s water systems operators to place an order.
Customers can place orders up to 10 days before they require the water. I encourage customers to place orders as early as they can, as it helps our water planners meet their requirements, particularly in times of high demand.
I also encourage customers to make sure they fully understand their licences and water entitlements before they begin placing orders. It is illegal for people to take and use more water than they are entitled to, so it is important people ensure their allocation accounts remain positive through the season.
We are in a really good window at the moment for water availability and the low cost of water, so we hope this irrigation season is a prosperous one for our customers.
To access WaterLINE, go to www.g-mwater.com.au/waterline or phone 1300 469 469.