There is a 95 per cent chance that River Murray water allocations will reach at least 25pc by the end of August, according to predictions made by Water Minister Paul Caica today.
The figure compares with an actual allocation of only 10pc at the end of August in 2009.
Mr Caica says the latest Murray-Darling Basin Authority resource assessment includes 80 gigalitres of additional water for SA.
“This means there will be more water available for the environment and puts us in a good position to accumulate a substantial amount of our critical human water needs for 2011-12 early in the water year,” he said.
“It also means SA irrigators can expect the opening allocation to be announced on July 1 to be better than they have received in recent years.’’
Mr Caica says it is still too early to confirm the exact level of opening allocations.
“But I can confirm that it will be greater than in the past three years when opening allocations were 4pc, 2pc and 2pc respectively,” he said.
“Irrigators will also be able to access 100pc of their carryover entitlements.”
Mr Caica reminded irrigators allocations in SA are to remain at 62pc until the end of this month, the highest level since November 2006.
River Murray storages remain low in comparison to the long-term averages.
The current volume in Hume, Dartmouth, Menindee Lakes and Lake Victoria is 3785gL (40pc capacity), compared to 1455gl (16pc) at this time last year.
On a note of caution, inflows into the River Murray System for May have remained considerably below the long-term average and the current forecast is for a drier than normal winter across most of the Basin.
* Details: www.mdba.gov.au/
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