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All Current and Past Media Releases
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Media Release - Department of Water and Energy Date: 1 July 2009 COMMENCING WATER ALLOCATIONS FOR THE LACHLAN VALLEY The Department of Water and Energy today announced Available Water Determinations (AWD) for surface water users in the Lachlan Regulated River Water Source, for the new 2009-2010 water year commencing on 1 July 2009. Due to minimal inflows in the Lachlan Valley there is only sufficient water to initially provide 50 per cent of entitlement for local water utilities. Stock and domestic will initially receive 15 per cent of entitlement and high security access licences will receive an allocation of 0.1 megalitre per share unit. The commencing allocation for general security licence holders will be zero, and until resources improve, access to general security carry-over will be withheld. The current storage capacity at Wyangala Dam is about 75,000 megalitres. As these reserves are extremely low, running the regulated river for its entire length can only be guaranteed to the end of September 2009. The current severe water shortage order for the Lachlan Valley will remain in place. This means the normal water sharing rules continue to be suspended for the Lachlan Regulated River Water Source. The allocations announced will enable water users to plan their operations over the coming year. The Department of Water and Energy and its agency partners, State Water, will continue to run the river system to minimise losses and maximise water availability. The prospect of receiving good rainfall has now deteriorated with the Bureau of Meteorology stating that La Nina is now neutral and is expected to persist until late winter. The Department will continue to closely monitor the situation and make regular announcements as new resources become available. Additional information on AWDs is available on the Department’s website: www.dwe.nsw.gov.au Alternatively, licence holders can phone their local DWE office for more information.
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