Melbourne
32.3 Surface water access entitlement for allocated diversions

Surface water access entitlements for allocation diversion represents entitlements that relate to a water system where the flow of the river is regulated through the operation of major storages or weirs to secure water supplies.

Entitlements included are:

• bulk entitlements issued to urban retail water authorities within the Melbourne region;
• bulk entitlements issued to urban retail water authorities within the Melbourne region to water outside the region;
  
• bulk entitlements issued to urban retail water authorities outside the Melbourne region;
• water shares issued to individual irrigators which are classified as high reliability water shares (HRWS) or low reliability water shares (LRWS).
  

The following table presents bulk entitlements issued to urban retail water authorities in the Melbourne region.

Bulk entitlements for urban retail water authorities within the Melbourne region

Entitlement holder	Bulk entitlement	Entitlement volume (ML)	Additional information
City West Water	Tarago and Bunyip rivers	30,510	Entitled to a share of storage capacity in the Tarago Reservoir. Entitled to divert up to the average annual entitlement limit.
South East Water
Yarra Valley Water
City West Water	Yarra River	400,000	Entitled to a share of storage capacity of all reservoirs with the Yarra catchment. Entitled to divert up to the average annual entitlement limit.
South East Water
Yarra Valley Water
Western Water	Gisborne— Barringo Creek	320	Entitled to divert up to the average annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Lancefield	315	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Macedon and Mount Macedon	645	Entitled to a share of storage capacity in several smaller storages. Entitled to divert up to the average annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Maribyrnong	6,100	Entitled to a share up to 86% of storage capacity in the Rosslynne Reservoir. Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Riddells Creek	300	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Romsey	460	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Myrniong	58	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Werribee System	9,986	Entitled to a share up to 60% of storage capacity in Lake Merrimu and entitled to all storage capacity in Djerriwarrh Reservoir (980 ML at full supply level). Entitled to divert up to the average annual entitlement limit.
Western Water	Melbourne headworks system1	18,250	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Total		466,944

¹ The Melbourne Headworks system includes storages that harvest water from protected water supply catchments: Thomson Reservoir, Yarra River, Silver and Wallaby creeks, Tarago and Bunyip rivers. It also includes water from the Victorian desalination project and the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project.

The following table presents bulk entitlements issued to urban retail water authorities within the Melbourne region to water outside the Melbourne region.

Bulk entitlements issues to urban retail water authorities within the Melbourne region to water outside the region

Entitlement holder	Bulk entitlement	Entitlement volume (ML)	Additional information
City West Water	Thomson River	171,800	Entitled to a share of storage capacity and inflows (up to 1,068,100 ML) in the Thomson Reservoir. Entitled to divert up to the average annual entitlement limit.
South East Water
Yarra Valley Water
City West Water	Silver and Wallaby creeks	66,000	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
South East Water
Yarra Valley Water
City West Water	Goulburn and Murray System	75,000	Melbourne's share of water recovered from Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP) Stage 1.
South East Water
Yarra Valley Water
Total		312,800

The following table presents bulk entitlements issued to urban retail water authorities outside the Melbourne region to water inside the region.

Bulk entitlements for urban retail authorities outside the Melbourne region

Retail water authority	Bulk entitlement	Volume (ML)	Description
Gippsland Water	Tarago and Bunyip rivers	4,825	Entitled to divert up to the annual entitlement limit.
Total		4,825

HRWS are water shares against which seasonal allocations are made as a first priority. They are expected to reach 100% allocations in 95 years out of 100.

LRWS are water shares with a relatively low reliability of supply. Allocations to these shares are made available once there is enough water to meet high reliability water shares in the current year, and with minimum inflows to meet a certain percentage of high reliability water shares in the following year.

Water allocations in the Melbourne region are determined by Southern Rural Water. Once issued, the holder of the entitlement to which allocations are made may divert or trade the water, subject to water trading rules.

The following table presents water shares in the Melbourne region. The majority of water shares are held in the Werribee Irrigation District. The volume of HRWS is double the volume of LRWS held in the region.

Water shares entitlement volumes in the Melbourne region during the 2012 –13 year

Class	Location	Entitlement volume (ML)
HRWS	Werribee Irrigation District	10,040
	Werribee River	1,092
	Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District	3,881
	Non–water user	4
HRWS total		15,017
LRWS	Werribee Irrigation District	4,777
	Werribee River	435
	Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District	1,815
LRWS total		7,027
Total all water shares		22,044
Other	Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District—supply by agreement	474
Total entitlement volume		22,518

More information on entitlements in regulated water systems can be found on the Victorian Water Register  website.