Kicking off the new irrigation season

This is evident through the number of water orders we have received at Goulburn-Murray Water, as there have been far more this season than at the same stage in recent seasons.

This is likely due to a relatively dry winter meaning that customers have been eager to refill their dams and, in some cases, even begin irrigating.

Fortunately, our storages are quite full and water availability is therefore high.

However, the lack of rainfall in recent months is a reminder of how important it is we prepare for times of dry and of how valuable a resource water is.

Ensuring people do not take more water than they are entitled to is one of the ways we protect this resource and guarantee people get their fair share.

Regardless of whether customers have already placed an order or not, it is important they fully understand their licences and the amount of water they are entitled to.

If someone takes more water than their entitlement allows, they can be prosecuted for water theft, so it is crucial irrigators are clear on how much they are permitted to take.

Another way we protect the water that falls into our catchments is through improvements to our delivery network, of which there have been many over the past few months.

Each year, we undertake our Winter Works maintenance program during the brief period in between irrigation seasons.

This small window where we do not have water delivery obligations to meet is invaluable to G-MW, as it allows us to de-water parts of our network to complete projects we would not be able during the season.

This year’s Winter Works program was a highly productive one and has put us in a good position for the new irrigation season.

Many of the works we completed will help us improve the flow rate and reliability of our water deliveries.

This includes the hundreds of kilometres of channel we treated for aquatic weeds and flume gates we repaired and replaced.

Other works improve reliability while also improving water efficiency.

Channel refurbishments are one such example, and during our Winter Works program, we refurbished more than 20km of channels at 19 different sites.

These works are very targeted, as we use data to detect where in our delivery network we have channels that are losing small amounts of water to seepage and leakage.

We then inspect the channels and tailor our remediation works to ensure the channels’ long-term integrity.

This could involve remodelling the banks with stronger materials, adding rock armouring to the channel or creating a core trench to reduce seepage below the banks.

This supports the significant water savings we obtained through the Connections Project and Water Efficiency Project, with the last two irrigation seasons being our best in terms of water delivered compared to water lost.

While telemetry means we are better equipped to detect any faults in our delivery system than ever before, we still encourage customers to contact us if they see any maintenance issues.

Now is also a good time for customers to ensure their on-farm irrigation infrastructure is in working condition so they can get water at the flow rate they order.

This includes inspecting pumps, pipelines and other infrastructure for any debris or blockages.

If a customer wants to report a maintenance issue or has questions regarding their water licences or entitlements, they can phone G-MW’s Water Systems Operations team on 1300 469 469.

Customers wanting to access WaterLINE — G-MW’s water ordering system — can do so by downloading the waterline app or via: https://waterline.g-mwater.com.au

– Charmaine Quick is G-MW’s managing director.