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Latest water releases
from The Adviser 1671
by The Adviser
GOULBURN-MURRAY Water (GMW) has begun releasing water from Lake Eppalock to manage the rate of fill at the storage.
Releases from Lake Eppalock increased to 800 ML/day on Monday July 10. GMW Water Storage Services general manager Martina Cusack said releases were based on projected inflows.
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“Goulburn-Murray Water manages the lake, it doesn’t own the water,” she said.
“Coliban Water, environmental water holders, and farmers are the main entitlement owners. To release more water from Lake Eppalock, GMW would generally require the water holders to order more water.
“However, GMW can release water from Lake Eppalock when the storage is expected to fill and forecast inflows will replenish the water released. This ensures that water holders are not losing the water being stored in Lake Eppalock for them.”
Water levels at Lake Eppalock are currently reaching the spillway level - however, even if the storage spills, the design of the spillway means inflows are temporarily kept back in the storage, and outflows are less than inflows. Ms Cusack said GMW would continue monitoring conditions to determine if releases needed to be increased.
GMW are also continuing to make releases from Lake Eildon to create room for further inflows into the storage, which is 97.88 per cent full (as of 17/07/2023). GMW is currently releasing 12,000 ML per day from Lake Eildon, with these releases to be adjusted depending on further rainfall.
The Eildon dam is in the upper catchment of the Goulburn River and collects water from 23 percent of the Goulburn catchment. The remaining 77 percent of the catchment include significant creeks and rivers like the Rubicon River, Acheron River, Yea River, Sunday Creek, Seven Creeks and the Broken River.
