She said that the small increase did not indicate an improvement in the outlook for the river.

Low winter rainfall across the basin did not produce enough run off to significantly ease restrictions.

Murray-Darling Basin storages were still only at 22 per cent of capacity, she said.

South Australian Murray Irrigators chairman Ian Zadow said he was surprised to hear allocations would rise, and he believed the outlook to be bleak.

"Every little bit helps but in real terms, and it is pretty hard to generalise on the amount of water needed to keep permanent plantings alive, but we probably still need double of what we've got just to keep plantings alive," he said.

"We still have a long way to go before reaching that milestone."

The State Government also announced this week that it is likely a desalination plant and a doubling of water storage capacity in the Mount Lofty Ranges would go ahead.

The government's Desalination Working Group has been investigating a 50 gigalitres desalination plant and an expansion of the Mount Bold Reservoir.

Premier Mike Rann said Cabinet hoped to sign-off the plans in November, after considering the working group's final report.

Mr Zadow said the desaliantion announcement had been a "long time coming".

"We've got a long time in front of us before things get back to normal, and the fact is most of the State's population depends on the river, so something had to happen whether we had the drought or not," he said.

Murray Darling Basin Commission chief executive Wendy Craik warned that river communities are likely to face significant challenges over the coming spring and summer.

"We are facing a spring and summer on the Murray like no other since Hume Dam was completed in 1936," she said.

Dr Craik said the weirpool levels in SA would remain close to existing levels to contain salinity increases, but that the lower lakes were likely to fall to record lows under continuing dry conditions.