Since August 2019, the Trust Board and its staff have worked to seek a more workable private carryover policy for SA irrigators, and to have that improved policy applied retrospectively.
Private carryover was granted in April 2019 when the opening 2019-20 allocations were less than 50%. Under the policy adopted in February 2019, irrigators who conserved water in 2018-19 for later use lost the full economic value of that water when the 2019-20 allocations reached 100%.
The Trust considered that policy was unsustainable and has a negative economic impact on SA irrigators and their communities.
While improvements to the policy were announced by the Minister on 15 April 2020, the SA Government did not approve that the water conserved by irrigators in 2018-19 could be carried forward. This is extremely disappointing, particularly given the 2% 2020-21 minimum allocation announcement.
We ask the SA Government to clearly explain to our community who has benefitted from the conserved 2018-19 irrigators’ water.
The Trust sincerely thanks the community, including many who reside outside the Renmark irrigation district, who actively demonstrated their support to Government to improve the policy and apply it retrospectively. The Trust’s comprehensive submission to the Government review can be found here.