Hugh Schuitemaker, Murray Pioneer
Assurance Riverland irrigators will receive 100 per cent water allocations will provide business certainty amid pressure from low rainfall across the state, says a senior local industry figure.
The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) yesterday announced South Australian Murray River irrigators were projected to receive their full water allocations in 2025-26.
Renmark Irrigation Trust chief executive officer Rosalie Auricht said the announcement would alleviate some concern caused by current drought conditions.
“It’s very positive news for the Riverland that SA Murray Class 3 irrigation allocation is 100 per cent for the coming water year,” Ms Auricht said.
“With SA experiencing extreme dry conditions, having this certainty for the whole of the state is wonderful.
“The 100 per cent announcement avoids another complexity for our irrigated horticultural growers who are already dealing with high interest rates and a high cost of doing business, together with unresolved issues in the wine grape industry.”
Availability of South Australia’s Entitlement is driven by storage levels upstream, which are considered average for this time of year. Water availability is also expected to improve over the coming weeks, as inflows from rain in the northern Basin reach the Menindee Lakes storages.
DEW executive director, water and River Murray, Sue Hutchings, said this was the fifth-straight year allocations would open at the full 100 per cent.
“Despite record-low rainfall in some parts of South Australia, Murray River irrigators can go into another water year with the confidence of having full allocations available to them”, Ms Hutchings said.
As the projected minimum opening allocation is 100 percent, no more allocation announcements are scheduled for 2025-26.
In line with the River Murray Water Allocation Plan, irrigators will be ineligible to carryover any unused allocation volumes into 2025-26, as the projected minimum opening allocation for 2025-26 is greater than 50 per cent.
Further information is available by visiting the DEW website [https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/water-and-river-murray].
This article appeared in Murray Pioneer, 16 April 2025.
