17 Dec 21

Water trading – December update

The Elders Weather rainfall outlook suggests multiple cold fronts with the potential to bring widespread rain over southern and eastern Australia will start on 22 to 26 December but the strongest fronts will commence 5 to 9 and 10 to 14 January. In the West the strongest cold fronts are expected between 28 December to 1 January and 10 to 14 January .

According to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Hume dam is currently 98 per cent full, inflows peaked at 13,200 ML/day this week after a wet weekend but have since receded to 10,000 ML/day. Inflows have generally decreased, and downstream demands increased. This has seen airspace management releases transition to releases that are ‘demand-driven’. With drier and warmer conditions likely over the next few weeks, the threat of flooding has eased. However, with the catchment remaining relatively wet for this time of year and the storage level near full, the potential for another storage spill will continue for now.

Prices

Water Market	Temporary (per ML)
Murray (Below Choke)	$95.00 to $100.00
Murray (Above Choke)	$70.00 to $75.00
Murrumbidgee	$65.00 to $79.00
Goulburn	$70.00 to $75.00

Source: Elders Water Trading

Allocations

Trading region	Entitlement Type	Percentage
NSW Murray	High security	100%
NSW Murray	General security	100%
NSW Murrumbidgee	High security	100%
NSW Murrumbidgee	General security	100%
Vic Murray	High reliability	100%
Vic Goulburn	High reliability	100%
SA Murray	Class 3 (irrigation)	100%