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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 MACQUARIE-CUDGEGONG VALLEY The Department of Water and Energy today announced Available Water Determinations (AWD) for surface water users in the Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated River, for the new 2009-2010 water year commencing on 1 July 2009. Allocations for local water utility and domestic and stock licence holders will be 100 per cent and high security licence holders will receive 1 megalitre per share unit. The initial allocation for general security licence holders will be zero, although all carry-over water will be available. Storage reserves are low, but resources can support running the entire regulated river all year. Burrendong Dam currently holds about 252,000 megalitres and Windamere Dam is about 83,000 megalitres. With the consistent minimal inflows, the normal water sharing rules in the Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated River Water Sharing Plan remain suspended. The allocations announced will enable key industry groups such as agriculture, irrigation, and the mines 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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