Murray Darling Basin: More water savings targeted in Goulburn Murray

The Federal Government is stumping up millions for another round of water saving projects in Victoria’s major irrigation district. Here are the details.

More infrastructure works are on the way for the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District.

EXCLUSIVE: VICTORIA will target another 15.9 gigalitres in water savings for the environment thanks to a $177.5 million federal cash splash.

More than 250km of channels in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District will be modernised or decommissioned, and other ageing infrastructure upgraded, as part of the new Goulburn Murray Water efficiency project.

Federal Water Minister Keith Pitt will announce the funding today, as he continues a week-long tour of the Murray-Darling Basin in Victoria.

The state’s irrigators will likely breathe sighs of relief with the announcement, which will see Victoria further meet its water saving commitments under the Murray Darling Basin Plan without buybacks.

Mr Pitt last year, as part of an overhaul of the Basin Plan’s management, pledged there would be no more Commonwealth water buybacks to recover environmental water, with more cash to instead be poured into off-farm infrastructure.

“This off-farm funding will modernise and make Victoria’s largest irrigation system more efficient, generating significant water savings without damaging regional economies,” Mr Pitt said.

The new project has come after GMW’s beleaguered $2.2 billion Connections project – which decommissioned thousands of kilometres of channels across the GMID, and generated 429GL in water savings – was finally completed in October last year, 12 years after it began.

Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville submitted plans for the new water efficiency project last year, following community consultation.

It will modernise or decommission more than 250km of channels, and upgrade more than 1000 outlets, by 2023.

Victoria’s Acting Water Minister Richard Wynne said the project would also provide hundreds of local jobs.

“(The project) will provide significant economic stimulus for local and regional communities … while delivering significant environmental outcomes,” he said.