The Trust office will close at 5pm today, the 22 December, and reopen at 8.30am on 3rd January.

Please ring 8586 6050 for any urgent matters during this time as we have staff rostered on to deal with emergencies.

Water can be booked by phone from 8.30am to 10.30am each day or you can book anytime via our online water orders page https://orders.rit.org.au/

Please email mtaylor@rit.org.for allocation transfer enquiries

We hope you have a great Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

The peak of the flood has now passed Mildura and is expected in Renmark next week. Today, Monday, 19 December 2022, the Trust’s main pumping station is operating at 2.6m above the normal Lock 5 weir pool level. The forecast rise in the river is within the main pumping station’s operational capacity.

Trust staff will continue to monitor operations closely during the holiday period.

The continuity of power supply is of concern to all communities along the river in South Australia. However, through advocacy and liaison, the main pumping station’s power supply risk has been mitigated by:

• the reduction in the “safety” margin of power lines over water from 4.7 to 3.7m;
• the introduction of boating exclusion zones;
• the state government 250GL secondary levy bank around the Renmark sub-station; and
• confirmation of SAPN’s ability to isolate and re-route the power supply.

Organic matter in the water remains high – please check and clean your filters regularly. Our Water Service Managers are available throughout the holiday period (8586 6050)

(Photo credit: Riverland Commercial Photography)

The new date for Riverland Wine’s next Outlook Industry Workshop has been set.

The workshop will include information on vineyard resting post hard pruning inspection, reworking/ grafting vines, and growing vineyard resilience.

It will also include a discussion on the initial findings from the Grower Survey.

For more details see Riverland Wine’s Facebook page

The South Australian Government has partnered with Rural Business Support to provide free, independent and confidential financial counselling to small business owners affected by the Riverland flooding crisis as they plan their road to recovery.

RBS business financial counsellors can support small and family business owners to develop emergency and recovery/ continuity action plans, working with the business owner to understand the short and long term implications of the flood event and assisting them to manage their financial wellbeing as they recover and rebuild.

For more information please call FREECALL 1800 836 211 or or visit www.ruralbusinesssupport.org.au 

When: Thursday 1 December 6-7.30pm

Where: Renmark Greek Church Hall, Twentyfirst Street

Topic: River Murray flows and their impact. It will also outline ways to be prepared.

Organised by the State Emergency Service

The meeting will be live-streamed on the SA State Emergency Service Facebook page at 6pm on Thursday December 1

1 December 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of the Trust’s Main Pumping Station. It was one of 3 transformational projects which were driven by the Trust’s Board and staff, from 1960-1977. The new main pumping station replaced a network of pumping stations which had been operational since the early 1900s.

The flamboyant Premier of the day, Don Dunstan, commissioned the pumping station. He attended a celebratory lunch at the Renmark Club and steered the Liba Liba to view the new site from the River

As part of 50th celebrations, the Trust is offering tours of the Main Pumping Station.

You will be able to view various parts of the station while Trust staff explain the functions of the pumps and fully automated control equipment. Like many visitors to the MPS, you may be surprised by the technology and scale of the pumps, motors, pipes and electrical equipment that are required to meet irrigation demand in the Trust district.

Tours will only take place if access to the pumping station is not impacted by High River Flows

When: Thurs 1 Dec  2pm  AND  Sunday 4 Dec 2pm  (approx. 1 hour)

Where:  RIT Main Pumping Station, James Ave, Renmark

Free but bookings required

Book here:  https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/rit-main-pumping-station-50th-anniversary-tours-tickets-456542529997

Or phone the RIT office (08) 8586 6911

SHUTDOWN TIME NOW 10.30am TO 11.30am ON THURSDAY 24 NOVEMBER

Renmark Irrigation Trust has agreed for Enel X to install a grid connected battery at the Main Pumping Station that will provide stability to the grid.

Installation work is planned to occur on 22-24 November 2022 and so pumping will continue at a slightly reduced capacity.

This will not impact water supply, apart from two, approximately 1 hour periods, where a complete shutdown will occur.

These times are:

6am – 7am Tuesday 22 November

Now 10.30am -11.30 am (was 6am – 7am) Thursday 24 November

Growers should schedule irrigations to avoid the two early morning shutdowns.

For all the up to date information on high water levels, levees and road closures in the Renmark Paringa Council area go to the Council’s flood advice page.

It has lots of information which is updated regularly

https://www.renmarkparinga.sa.gov.au/river-murray-high-flow-advice

With rising water levels there is a real likelihood of a blackwater event. This often includes the possibility of fish kills.

In South Australia, please notify PIRSA through the Fishwatch hotline 1800 065 522.

More information is available here https://www.mdba.gov.au/issues-facing-basin/report-water-quality-issues-or-fish-deaths

Renmark Irrigation Trust advises the closed ground water drainage system is operating at full capacity. The system manages salinity with the drains around one meter below the surface; it is not a storm water management system.

All pumps in the drainage system are functioning. Staff are resolving issues that have arisen from the large volumes of storm water entering the system via private ground water drainage systems on horticulture land, including from the Chaffey Trust Cooltong area.

UPDATE 27th October

Although the situation continues to slowly improve, as we recover from the weekend’s extreme rainfall event, we ask that you do not pump directly into the drainage sumps, without approval from the Trust.

Staff are working to clear the restricted flows as they occur. Please contact us if you have any concerns about your crops on (08) 8586 6050.

26th October

Please cease direct pumping into the cassions. RIT’s sub surface drainage system remains backed up in some areas. To enable the system to function as designed we ask that all direct pumping into sumps cease. A further update will be provided tomorrow

5pm on 25 October

The ground water drainage system remains under pressure due to the high rainfall. The extra flow demand has caused a number of pipe breaks which are being repaired. If you have any urgent concerns for your crop please contact us on (08) 8586 6050.