VICTORIAN irrigators have gained the right to carry a greater volume of unused water from this season into next.
Until now irrigators have been restricted to carrying a maximum of 30 per cent of their entitlement into next season.
Water Minister Tim Holding last week announced the carry-over threshold would rise to 50 per cent.
"An increase to the volume of water that can be carried over into the following year gives irrigators more choice about when to use their water allocations," Mr Holding said.
Before carry-over was introduced, irrigators lost any unused water at the end of each season, which in some cases resulted in the inefficient use of water as irrigators were forced to use it or lose it.
The decision means an irrigator with 100 megalitres of high reliability water shares and the standard 48 megalitres of low reliability water shares can carry over 74 megalitres.
Last season many irrigators spent $126 to create a second low-reliability water share account on their properties, which allowed them to lodge carry-over water in both accounts. Irrigators argued the $126 was cheap insurance against the risk of losing carryover water next season, currently worth $280 a megalitre.
Drought-drained storages and a bleak outlook mean many irrigators are holding on to their water to either water annual pastures this autumn or to secure supplies for next season.
Goulburn Murray Water reported last week that as of February 16, irrigators still held more than 550,000 megalitres of the one million megalitres available this season.
Mr Holding said the Government was also considering further changes to the carry-over rules ahead of the 2010-11 irrigation season.
Mr Holding said that under a Government proposal, irrigators would only lose their carryover once storages physically spilled.
For details of the proposal, visit tinyurl.com/cevrzm
