While our friendly staff love welcoming you at the Trust Office, due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns, please reconsider your need to visit the Trust Office in person, unless for urgent business. Instead, please call the office on (08) 8586 6911 with any queries or for assistance in paying any invoices/accounts.

Potential changes to the State Government’s private carryover policy will be finalised before April, but ONLY with the support of Riverland irrigators. The proposed policy out for consultation is an improvement on the current policy and is strongly supported by the Trust who will make a comprehensive submission accordingly. If the proposed changes are implemented, it opens the possibility that irrigators may gain access to their private carryover water put aside in 2018-19 and then lost due to the current policy when allocations reached 100% in 2019-20.

BUT, YOUR input is also needed. Click the following email address and voice your support for the proposed private carryover policy changes: rmwap.feedback@sa.gov.au. You have until 5pm Tuesday 10 March to email this address if making a submission in this way.

Please feel free to copy and paste the following below response paragraphs in your email if you do not wish to draft your own response, but are in support of the potential changes (if wanting to sign a physical register/petition of support rather than submitting a submission electronically, please drop into the Trust Main Office BY 5PM FRIDAY 6 MARCH where one will be available at the front desk):

RE: Support for proposed changes to South Australia’s private carryover policy

The Governments proposed change to the private carryover policy will provide better water security for a series of dry years. It also opens up the possibility of rolling forward the 20GL of water carried over from 2018-19 which was totally lost when 2019-20 allocations reached 100%. Current MDB storage levels indicate that it is becoming unlikely that 2020-21 allocations will reach 100%. Reduced allocations impact the economic and social wellbeing of the whole Riverland community.

The Government’s proposed improvement will assist growers who hold SA Class 3 entitlement to manage reduced allocations by conserving water in one year for the next. It will also assist those who need to lease in water as the private carryover water, including the possible 20GL from 2018-19, will take pressure off of the water market in low allocation years.

I/we strongly support the proposed changes.

Click here to access a statement that provides early advice on the conditions leading into the 2020-21 water year. Information on South Australia’s projected opening minimum water allocation will be provided on 15 April 2020.

Potential changes to the State Government’s private carryover policy will be finalised before April, but ONLY with the support of Riverland irrigators. The proposed policy out for consultation is an improvement on the current policy and is strongly supported by the Trust who will make a comprehensive submission accordingly. If the proposed changes are implemented, it opens the possibility that irrigators may gain access to their private carryover water put aside in 2018-19 and then lost due to the current policy when allocations reached 100% in 2019-20.

BUT, YOUR input is also needed. Click the following email address and voice your support for the proposed private carryover policy changes: rmwap.feedback@sa.gov.au

Please feel free to copy and paste the following below response paragraphs in your email if you do not wish to draft your own response, but are in support of the potential changes (if wanting to sign a physical register/petition of support please drop into the Trust Main Office where one will be available at the front desk):

RE: Support for proposed changes to South Australia’s private carryover policy

The Governments proposed change to the private carryover policy will provide better water security for a series of dry years. It also opens up the possibility of rolling forward the 20GL of water carried over from 2018-19 which was totally lost when 2019-20 allocations reached 100%. Current MDB storage levels indicate that it is becoming unlikely that 2020-21 allocations will reach 100%. Reduced allocations impact the economic and social wellbeing of the whole Riverland community.

The Government’s proposed improvement will assist growers who hold SA Class 3 entitlement to manage reduced allocations by conserving water in one year for the next. It will also assist those who need to lease in water as the private carryover water, including the possible 20GL from 2018-19, will take pressure off of the water market in low allocation years.

I/we strongly support the proposed changes.

Following an audit in January, the Renmark Irrigation Trust has been awarded Platinum level certification, the highest certification level under the Alliance for Water Stewardship model. The below text is an extract from an article published in the Murray Pioneer on 29 January 2020.

Renmark Irrigation Trust has become the first irrigation scheme in the world to be awarded a platinum level certification, the highest, for good water stewardship. The platinum level certification by the Alliance for Water Stewardship recognises the expanding rehabilitation program of floodplains adjacent Renmark, in partnership with Renmark Paringa Council and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder. Other contributing factors are good governance, efficient water delivery of greater than 99%, salinity management and sustainable water management.

The Trust initially received a gold level certification in 2018. The Presiding Member, Humphrey Howie said “This platinum certification provides global recognition for the best practice achievements of our irrigation community and we would encourage all Murray Darling Basin irrigation entities and communities to adopt the Alliance for Water Stewardship framework and certification. The Trust will continue to strive for outcomes that provide economic, environmental and social benefits for the Renmark community within the context of the Murray Darling Basin catchment.”

The interim Inspector-General, Mick Keelty, is inquiring into the arrangements for sharing water in the southern Basin between NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Register your interest in attending this Town Hall session by emailing igmdb@agriculture.gov.au.

The Interim Inspector-General is exploring the scope of the Inquiry through these 4 themes:

1. Inflows and supply into the Murray–Darling Basin.
2. Delivery of water.
3. Water sharing.
4. Potential opportunities for enhancement.   

A formal public consultation on the review of the SA Private Carryover Policy will be held on Tuesday 4 February at the Loxton Research Centre at 11am. Further details on the formal public consultations can be found here.

All Trust Members and interested members of the public are encouraged to attend. In relation to the proposed changes to the private carryover policy, the Trust held a meeting for its Members on Thursday 23 January 2020, where representatives from the Department for Environment and Water went through the proposed carryover policy in an informal setting.

There was a general agreement that the proposed policy is an improvement and should be supported. 

Following the Minster’s approval of South Australia’s Water Allocation Plan in February 2019, the Trust, on behalf of its members, has been advocating for improvements to the private carryover policy.

The Minster has now opened up the policy for review and public consultation has commenced on proposed changes to the policy.

Trust Members are invited to a Private Carryover Review Discussion to be held at the Renmark Club on Thursday, 23 January, from 3pm-4pm to obtain detail about these changes.

Representatives from the Department for Environment and Water will be present, among other invited guests. This is an opportunity to contribute to the policy consultation/review process in an informal setting.

Please register your attendance for this session with the Trust Office, either in person at the Trust Office or by contacting the Office on 08 8586 6911.

A formal public consultation will be held on Tuesday 4 February at the Loxton Research Centre at 11am. Further details on the formal public consultations can be found here.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF MEMBERS FOLLOWED BY A CELEBRATORY DINNER

To be held at the 23^rd Street Distillery on Monday 2 December 2019 at 5:30pm. If attending please RSVP to the Trust Office by 12 noon Monday 25 November 2019.

In addition to today’s announcement that South Australian irrigators will receive a 100 per cent water allocation in 2019-20, DEW has announced that the appropriateness of [the private carryover] policy setting is under review, a review which will include statutory consultation on potential amendments to the current private carryover policy in the WAP. This consultation is scheduled to take place in early 2020.