The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) has today announced that the minimum opening water allocation for South Australian irrigators has risen to 38 percent for 2019-20.
Based on recent rainfall and water availability data, this is up from previously projected water allocations of 14 percent in April, 22 percent in May, 26 percent in June and 31 percent on 1 July.
After two consecutive years with low rainfall and inflows across the Murray-Darling Basin, the volume of water in Murray-Darling Basin Authority controlled storages is around 38 per cent of capacity and slowly increasing.
Given that we have reached winter in-flow season, we will continue to monitor resources conditions closely with the aim of increasing water allocations for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020.
The next update will be on 1 August. Water users will be provided with water allocation updates twice a month reflecting any improved water availability while water allocations remain under 100 percent.
The full statements from DEW (and future updates) can be found at:
https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/river-murray/water-allocation-and-carryover/water-allocations-and-announcements?fbclid=IwAR04YPOfaRY3fzmkJnwL_WhOSDm8WNJaFzBU9h8Ju9O8PsTPW-8L9wOCwEE