CHANGES to South Australia’s carryover regulations will give some relief in the upcoming water year, however, a senior local industry figure says the State Government’s previous policy has resulted in millions of lost dollars for Riverland irrigators.
The State Government last week released a revised water carryover policy for South Australian Murray irrigators, now allowing for granted private carryover water to be rolled across multiple dry years.
Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT) presiding member Humphrey Howie said the revised carryover policy provided a “higher-level” of security for South Australian water entitlements.
“The change in the carryover policy will allow some rollover for future years if the allocation reaches above 80 per cent,” Mr Howie said.
“That is an outcome which is an improvement, however it still bears some risk because if the opening allocation next year is announced above 50 per cent that carryover water is lost.
“So there is still risk involved, however it is better than what we had last year.”
Previous rules saw irrigators start to lose access to water put aside when allocations rose above 80 per cent for the current season and fully losing it at 100%.
However, carryover water can now be used across multiple years provided the opening allocation announcements remain below 50 per cent.
Mr Howie said a State Government decision to prevent retrospective access to carryover water – held in Dartmouth Dam – from the previous year would dearly cost Riverland irrigators and communities.
“It was certainly disappointing the retrospectivity of the carryover water from the 2018/19 water year wasn’t allowed,” he said.
“RIT members alone had 2.9 gigalitres of carryover which has now been lost. That equates to somewhere between $1.5 to $2 million of growers’ water, that they will potentially sorely need this coming season.
“It’s a great disappointment… it was defined as an insurance policy, but it’s turned out to be a pretty expensive policy.
“Growers who were conservative and saved water in 2018-19 to carryover were unduly punished.”
Mr Howie said utilising the new carryover policy would help Riverland irrigators alleviate economic stress during a stretch of multiple dry years.
“Interstate they have very generous carryover policies compared to South Australia, in some cases allowing 100 per cent,” he said.
“We think that is over the top. South Australia does have a conservative approach with a 20 per cent limit and we agree with that.
“It’s an important tool to help growers plan for their year. It allows for more efficient irrigation as you’re not encouraged to ‘use it or lose it’.
“It allows growers to open their account with something and give them time to plan for the season, without making extreme decisions early.”
Mr Howie said experience from 2019-20 – where allocations started at 14 per cent – would be valuable for irrigators following last week’s announcement of two per cent.
“DEW have been pretty good at getting that forecasting information out for irrigators,” Mr Howie said.
“Growers will be wiser and more aware of how the system works this year compared to last year.”