Agriculture
24 February, 2026
Water share warning as reservoirs drop
OPENING new season determinations in the Loddon irrigation systems are likely to be small with sotrages at their lowest for five years.
Northern Victorian Resource Manager Mark Bailey said determinations against high-reliability water shares in the 2026-2027 year would depend heavily on weather and catchment conditions during winter and spring and the amount of carried over unused allocation.
“After consecutive years of below-average inflows, the storages are at their lowest levels since 2020. Resources for 2026-2027 system operating requirements are secure in the Murray, Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems,” he said.
However, reserves for seasonal determinations are not as large as recent years.
“Without an increase in the stored volumes, opening seasonal determinations in the Murray, Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon systems are likely to be low.”
An average winter would see the Loddon system start with an eight per cent allocation in July and not reach 100 per cent until February.
“Inflows into the southern Murray catchments and the Goulburn system this water year have been slightly better than the dry outlook scenario,” Mr Bailey said.
“A repeat of these inflows in 2026-2027 would result in seasonal determinations of about 75 per cent in the Murray system and 50 per cent in the Goulburn by mid-February.”
Of the three Loddon storages, only Laaneccorie is holding a similar level of water compared with last year with 301ML.
Cairn Curran has dropped from 51.89 per cent capacity to 28.4 per cent (42,430ML). Tullaroop is down 20 per cent to 26,74ML