Goulburn Murray water savings up, productivity down

Modernisation projects have failed to increase irrigation efficiency for Goulburn Murray irrigators, argues Jan Beer.

Water usage: Yea farmer Jan Beer, stands beneath the Victorian north-south water pipeline where it crosses the Yea River.

THE $2.2 billion of taxpayers’ dollars that has been spent on modernisation and the Connections Project in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District has overseen a massive under-utilisation of the modernised metering fleet and dramatic loss in agricultural productivity particularly in the dairying industry.

It was estimated that modernisation would increase irrigation efficiency from about 70 per cent to at least 85 per cent, protect the region’s status as a source of high security water and enhance the sustainability of the entire region.

Annual water meter usage in gravity-fed irrigation districts show that over 12 years (2008-20), 47 per cent of all meters delivered zero to 10ML/year.

The 2019-20 season showed 61.3 per cent of all meters across the GMID delivered zero to 10ML.

So over the past 12 years nearly half of the meters in the modernised system are either not being used at all or being used only for stock and domestic and filling dams, not for increased productivity, when you consider that in autumn half a megalitre is needed per acre, and 10ML will only water 20 acres (eight hectares) once.

The 2013-14 irrigation season, according to GMW figures, could be regarded as an average season delivering approximately 1300GL, yet only 22 per cent of meters across the GMID delivered 100ML or more.

It is government policy alone that has overseen the huge reduction in the irrigation consumptive pool via “water savings’’ projects.

Governments have stood by while an open water market allowed increasing volumes of high security water to be traded and sold downstream, which in turn has created environmental degradation in the Goulburn, Murray, Gunbower Creek, Barmah-Millewa and Koondrook-Perricoota Forests and seen increasing salinity issues in semi-arid large scale horticultural developments.

One can only conclude that modernisation and the Connections projects have failed dismally in increasing irrigation efficiency across the GMID, but have been very successful in claiming water savings which was the initial main intention.

It is difficult to comprehend why the Victorian Water Minister would apply for a further $177 million in federal funding to proceed with yet another round of modernisation, the Backbone/ Transformation Project, under the guise of a Water Efficiency Project that is touted to “save” another 15.9GL.

This will undoubtedly again reduce the GMID consumptive pool.

The GMW water meter usage figures provide undeniable proof that the cumulative implementation of “water savings” projects have directly impacted the productivity and irrigation efficiency of the region.

● Jan Beer is a Yea farmer

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