It’s been a challenging few years for farmers in south west Victoria because of drought. In some areas, they’ve experienced the lowest rainfall on record and are struggling to keep their herds fed and watered. In response, the Victorian Government formed a Drought Response Taskforce to listen and provide support. We sit on this taskforce and have been working with customers, partners and the farming community to get through these tough times together.
Most recently, we launched our Farmer Helping Farmer initiative in September. This Victorian Government funded initiative is designed to encourage farmers with existing private groundwater bores in the Nullawarre region to share water with farmers in Heytesbury who need it. We’re currently consulting with customers. Early conversations have unearthed a few people wanting to learn more about how they can help those in need of water for stock and domestic use. We’re hopeful that further dialogue with farmers will allow us to roll this program out in other regions if needed.
While we can’t make it rain, we’ve also been working in other ways to make it easier for farmers to access water. We’ve put all south west Victorian groundwater and trade applications to the top of the list, and we’re working closely with applicants on what they need to provide us and how their application is progressing.
We’re encouraging water entitlement holders who aren’t using all their groundwater allocation to trade with those who need water. And we launched an online trading platform for south west Victoria to make it easier and more transparent for farmers to access groundwater.
Encouragingly, our 2024-25 South West Limestone annual groundwater condition summary shows groundwater levels are around the long-term average level except for a few bores in the far south west and one bore in the central region where levels are below average.
Results also show there is groundwater available and opportunities to trade water temporarily or permanently between licence holders. While groundwater use was nearly 25 percent higher than the five-year average, annual metered use was still just 44 percent of the licenced entitlement (81 GL) which equates to 36 GL.
The water year runs from 1 July to 30 June each year. Licence holders in the South West Limestone Groundwater Management Area are allowed to carryover up to 30 percent of any unused annual licence volume into the next year.
In 2024-25 there were a total of 804 groundwater licences with a total licensed volume of 81,289 megalitres. From those entitlement holders, 95 percent did not use their full allocation in 2024-25 and have full access to 30 percent carry over. Of the remaining five percent, many have access to some carryover. What this means is there is groundwater available and opportunities to trade – and we would encourage licence holders to use our trade platform to buy and sell this water.
Our work complements the support our partners are providing farmers to manage during drought. Agriculture Victoria is providing grants, household financial relief, farm management advice, mental health support and other resources that can be accessed online. Urban water corporation, Wannon Water, is supporting our south west Victorian rural community through a 50 percent waiver on their rural water surcharge, bonus credits and extending the high water usage allowance.
We know the vital role agriculture plays in the economic and social fabric of south west Victoria and we’re committed to working with the farming community to help them access water more easily. If you want to work with us to make this happen then register your interest in our Farmer Helping Farmer program now.
Further information about groundwater
We regulate and manage access to groundwater in southern Victoria. In south west Victoria, we do this in line with relevant groundwater management plans including the South West Limestone Local Management Plan and the Water Act 1989.
A take and use licence is required to take water from a bore for dairies, feedlots, irrigation or other commercial activities. A take and use licence is not needed to use water from a bore on your property for domestic and stock purposes.
We aim to balance the productive use of groundwater with the protection of environmental values and the rights of domestic and stock users. If you or someone you know is interested in accessing water, please get in touch and we can help you through the process.
Visit our groundwater management information page for more information on how to access groundwater in southern Victoria.