Allocations on the Murray system opened at 21% on 1 July 2011. With seasonal allocations and carryover combined, the GWMWater allocation is effectively 100%. Allocations to GWMWater Murray entitlements has increased over with seasonal allocations reaching 100% on 15 November 2011.

GWMWater full Murray entitlement is 5,408 ML which is designed to meet the demands of the Northern Mallee Pipeline, Cannie Ridge and Wimmera Mallee Pipeline Supply System 5.

To safeguard against shortfalls in availability as a result of low allocations in recent years, GWMWater has managed its entitlement from this system by:
-  purchasing both temporary and permanent water entitlement on an annual basis; and
-  carrying over volumes of any unused allocation in to the next year.

GWMWater has increased its Murray River System Permanent Water Entitlement by a further 439 ML during 2011 following recent water purchases. It has also carried over 5,636 ML of unused water in to the 2011/12 water year.

GWMWater was able to move customers to Permanent Water Saving Rules (PWSR) from October 2010. Given the 2011/12 resource outlook for this system and current storage volumes it is very likely that PWSR will be able to remain in place for future years.

We will continue to carefully manage our Murray River water resource while giving careful consideration to annual requirements, Murray system water availability and projected allocation outlooks.