Dams At Lowest Levels On Record

The Age

Tuesday May 18, 1999

BEN MITCHELL

Victoria's biggest dams, Lake Eildon and Lake Eppalock were at their lowest levels on record, Goulburn Murray Water said yesterday.

The two big dams are less than 30 per cent full. Irrigators are already on heavy restrictions and face further cuts unless there is rain within the next three months.

The residents of several regional centres also face the prospect of water restrictions if the dry conditions continue.

A spokesman for Goulburn Murray Water, Mr Gary Smith, said Lake Eildon, Victoria's second-biggest dam, and Lake Eppalock were at their lowest levels on record.

``We are not at the stage where country towns will have to go on restrictions, but irrigators are already on heavy restrictions and we could definitely use above-average rainfall this winter," he said.

He said the possibility of water restrictions for towns in the Goulburn Murray region, which includes Shepparton, Benalla and Wangaratta, would be examined if there was little winter rain.

Mr Smith said the state needed good rain to restore the drought buffer built into Victoria's water storage system. ``It is designed to provide water for up to two years in the event of a drought," he said. ``We are getting to the point where the drought reserve is almost gone."

The worst hit dams are Lake Eildon, which is only 20 per cent full, Lake Hume (14 per cent), Lake Eppalock (28 per cent), Waranga Basin (26 per cent) and Lake Mokoan (33 per cent).

Compounding the problem, only three of the 21 storages in the Goulburn Murray region - the main irrigation zone in Victoria - recorded an increase in water levels last week.

The National Climate Centre has predicted that winter in Victoria will be no wetter, but no drier than average. In its winter rainfall outlook, the centre said there were ``no clear signals" about the prospect of rain for those areas of South Australia and Victoria that had been dry in recent times.

The lack of rain in country Victoria has been attributed to a weak La Nina weather pattern and a persistence of high-pressure systems across Victoria.

The weak La Nina has so far failed to deliver anything to Victoria and South Australia.

The Victorian Farmers Federation is reporting that many farm dams are dry in Gippsland, the Mallee and the Wimmera.

Rural Victoria's water woes

Lake Eildon 20% full

Lake Eppalock 28% full

Lake Hume 14% full

Dartmouth Dam 44% full

Waranga Basin 26% full

Source: Goldburn Murray Water.

© 1999 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home