• Overview
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• 2006/07 in Review
• Chairman and MD’s report
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Bulk entitlements

The following table details how Melbourne Water managed our bulk entitlements from the Maribyrnong River in 2006/07. The data presented was based on entitlement to water in Rosslynne Reservoir, the major storage in the Maribyrnong Basin.

Entitlement to water in Rosslynne Reservoir as at 30 June 2007

	Volume (million litres)
Releases made from the reservoir to supply our licence customers	0
Share of storage capacity	18
Inflows attributed to Melbourne Water for the year	34.46
Transfers and operating losses within the system	0
Melbourne Water releases to meet environmental flow requirements	51
Water taken by licence holders from the Maribyrnong River to satisfy entitlements	131.871
Transfer of licences	762

1. Excludes domestic and stock licences, which are currently un-metered.
2. Includes two temporary transfers within the Keilor District

Bulk entitlement amendment for Rosslynne Reservoir

The combination of dry consecutive years and the level of releases required from Rosslynne Reservoir to maintain the passing flows in the Maribyrnong River have led to the approval by the Minister for Water, of temporary amendments to the following bulk entitlements:

Bulk Entitlement (Maribyrnong – Southern Rural Water) Conversion Order 2000

Bulk Entitlement (Maribyrnong – Melbourne Water) Conversion Order 2000

Bulk Entitlement (Maribyrnong – Western Water) Conversion Order 2000.

The amendment to Southern Rural Water’s bulk entitlement temporarily replaces the requirement to provide constant minimum passing flows at Sunbury with a requirement to release flushes if water quality drops below defined thresholds

The Melbourne Water and Western Water bulk entitlements were amended to ensure consistency with the revised environmental flow requirements specified under the amended Southern Rural Water entitlement.

The three metropolitan retail water businesses hold bulk entitlements to the water resources of the Yarra River, Thomson River and Silver/Wallaby Creeks (Goulburn River Basin). The entitlements were established as a collective ‘pool’ and were transferred to the retail water businesses on 30 October 2006.  Prior to this date, Melbourne Water held the bulk entitlement.  The data below represents the whole 12 month period.

Overall	Volume (million litres)
The annual average amount of water taken from the Yarra, Thomson and Goulburn Basins for the Melbourne supply system	469,6871

1. The diversion limit is specified as a long term average annual volume of 555,000 million litres. Compliance against this volume was reported as the 15-year rolling average annual consumption. This is an interim compliance measure until such time as a permanent measure is proposed to the Minister.

The retail water businesses have established a Management Agreement and Management Rules as required by the bulk entitlement order.

Thomson River
The average annual amount of water taken under this entitlement	141,8432 million litres
Storage volume in the retail water authorities’ share of the reservoir at 30/06/07	197,182 million litres
Flow into the retail water authorities’ share of the reservoir	86,583 million litres
Environmental releases from Thomson Reservoir	58,860 million litres
Number of permanent transfers	Nil
Volume of permanent transfers	0
Number of temporary transfers	Nil
Volume of temporary transfers	0
Amendment to bulk entitlement	Nil
New bulk entitlement	Nil
Failure to comply with any Thomson River bulk entitlement provisions	Nil
Difficulties experienced or anticipated in complying with the Thomson River bulk entitlement provisions	Nil

2. The diversion limit for the Thomson River is specified as long-term average annual volume of 171,800 million litres. Compliance with the diversion limit was reported as the 15-year rolling average annual harvest from the Thomson basin. This is an interim compliance measure until such time as a permanent measure is proposed to the Minister.

Temporary qualification of rights – bulk entitlement (Thomson River – Environment) 2005

On 23 March 2007, the former Minister for Water, Environment and Climate Change, John Thwaites agreed to relax the operating tolerance placed on the achievement of minimum environmental flows downstream of Thomson Dam until Stage 2 water restrictions lifted in Melbourne. 

Yarra River
The average annual amount of water taken under this entitlement	300,2423 million litres
Storage volume in the retail water authorities’ share of storages at 30/06/07	336,169 million litres
Flow into the retail water authorities’ share of storages	118,134 million litres
Annual volume of water supplied to Western Water as a primary entitlement holder	10,896 million litres
Total environmental releases and spills from storages in the Yarra Basin	22,5444 million litres
Compliance with water harvesting capacity	Yes5
Compliance with recommended environmental flow regime	Yes6
Number of permanent transfers	Nil
Volume of permanent transfers	0
Number of temporary transfers	17
Volume of temporary transfers	08
Amendment to bulk entitlement	Nil
New bulk entitlement	Nil
Failure to comply with any Yarra River bulk entitlement provisions	Nil
Difficulties experienced or anticipated in complying with the Yarra River bulk entitlement provisions	Nil

3. The diversion limit for the Yarra River is specified as long-term average annual volume of 400,000 million litres. Compliance with the diversion limit was reported as the 15-year rolling average annual harvest from the Yarra basin. This is an interim compliance measure until such time as a permanent measure is proposed to the Minister.
4. This volume includes releases from the Maroondah Aqueduct to the Yarra River.  A proportion of this volume is harvested at the Yering Gorge Pumping Station.
5. Harvesting was undertaken up to the capacity of the infrastructure existing at the time of conversion of the bulk entitlement order.
6. Temporary Qualification of Rights – Yarra River Environmental Entitlement 2006
   On 26 April 2007, the former Minister for Water, Environment and Climate Change, John Thwaites agreed to defer the implementation of the additional environmental flows provided for under the environmental entitlement and is to apply until Stage 2 water restrictions are lifted in Melbourne. The environmental flow rules in place prior to the granting of the Yarra River Environmental Entitlement in October 2006 have remained in place.  These include the environmental flow rules set out in Schedule F7 (Waters of the Yarra Catchment) of the Victorian State Environment Protection Policy.
7. On 26 June 2007, the former Minister for Water, Environment and Climate Change, John Thwaites approved the temporary transfer of up to 500 million litres of water to Goulburn Valley Water. The transfer will cease when a total of 500 million litres was transferred, or Kilmore and Wandong/Heathcote Junction are no longer subject to Stage 4 restrictions, whichever comes first.
8. There was no transfer of water under the temporary transfer arrangement to 30 June 2007.

Silver and Wallaby Creeks
The amount of water taken under this entitlement	10,3949 million litres
Compliance with maximum transfer rate	Yes
Number of permanent transfers	Nil
Volume of permanent transfers	0
Number of temporary transfers	Nil
Volume of temporary transfers	0
Amendment to bulk entitlement	Nil
New bulk entitlement	Nil
Failure to comply with any Silver and Wallaby Creeks bulk entitlement provisions	Nil
Difficulties experienced or anticipated in complying with the Silver and Wallaby Creeks bulk entitlement provisions	Nil

9. The diversion limit for the Silver/Wallaby Creek entitlement is specified as a three year rolling annual total of 66,000 million litres. Compliance with the diversion limit was reported as the total harvest from 1 July 2004 to the 30 June 2007. This is an interim compliance measure until such time as a permanent measure is proposed to the Minister.