River Murray Private Carryover Policy Information Session 4 & - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

River Murray Private Carryover Policy

Information Session 4 & 6 February 2020

Contents

• Background
• Current policy
• Issues & proposed changes
• Examples
• Sustainable diversion limits
• Consultation / Feedback

Background

• First introduced during Millenium drought
• Allowed water to be carried over from one year into the next
• South Australia allowed to store water in upstream storages
• Conditions improved by 2011-12

Private Carryover Review - Objectives

• Provide water security in dry years to support productive

industries and resilient communities

• Use water in storage wisely so it is available when needed most
• Transparent allocation decisions, announced as early as possible
• SA will comply with its Basin Plan obligations to support a

healthy, working River Murray

Current River Murray Private Carryover Policy

• Projected minimum opening allocations 50%
• r less
• Unused water, up to 20% of Class 3

entitlements held

• Final water meter reading provided by 31 July
• No application required
• Insurance to boost allocations in dry years –

total allocation cannot exceed 100% in a year

Issues

• Carryover effectively lost because allocations reached

100%

• 20GL of water carried over into 2019-20 water use year

Next steps

• 1. Considering improvements to policy settings to address issue
• 2. Further consideration of applying a revised policy retrospectively
• Equity with other water users

Proposed update to carryover policy

• Carryover announced when opening allocation 50% or less
• Maximum carryover - 20% of entitlement
• Maximum annual allocation - 100%
• Carryover rolls over when allocations increase to 80% or above
• Only in an eligible year (part of an unbroken sequence of years

when the projected minimum opening allocation is 50% or less)

• Carryover/rollover no longer applies when projected minimum
• pening allocation is greater than 50%

Example

2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23

Allocations reach 100%

(min opening allocation <50%)

Allocations reach 100%

(min opening allocation <50%)

Allocations reach 85%

(min opening allocation <50%)

Allocations reach 60%

(min opening allocation <50%)

Minimum

• pening

allocation >50% Allocation 100ML Allocation 100ML Allocation 85ML Allocation 60ML Carryover no longer applies Used 90ML Remaining = 10ML Used 85ML Remaining = 15ML Used 90ML Needs 5ML from carryover Used 70ML Needs 10ML from carryover

Carryover 10ML Carryover 20ML (max) Carryover 15ML Carryover 5ML Carryover 0ML

Entitlement = 100ML

Compliance Requirements

• Basin Wide compliance ensures water makes its way to South

Australia

• Cap on water use – since 1997
• Water use, was and has continued to be less water than allowed under the Cap
• Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDL) – Basin Plan Mechanism
• SDL = BDL – water recovery + SDL offset
• BDL is the rules under the Cap, applied over a different time-period.

Carryover Implications

• If 100% of volume on entitlement is used –> risk of exceeding SDL
• Carryover policy affects utilisation
• Individual underuse generated against entitlements on issue
• Carryover changes could increase the risk of water use exceeding

the SDL

Scenarios

• A. Current policy – single year carryover
• Likely to maintain utilisation with minimal additional pressure on SDL

compliance

• B. Proposed - carryover within a dry sequence
• Likely to increase utilisation and place increased but manageable pressure
• n SDL compliance
• C. Continuous carryover – carryover maintained until used or spilled
• Likely to significantly increase use and place increased pressure on SDL

compliance

Feedback

• Seeking submissions until Tuesday 10 March 2020
• YourSAy.sa.gov.au/river-murray-wap-2020
• Letter, email or complete online survey

Announcement timeline

Water-use Year 1 Water-use Year 2

Carryover granted Late-season trade period Submission of meter readings Announcement of minimum

• pening allocations* and

carryover availability Announcement of actual opening allocations* Carryover allocations calculated Water availability forecast provided by MDBA

*When allocations are less than 100 percent they will be increased over time if there are improvements in water availability.