VICTORIAN irrigators will not gain a drop of the 1.2 million megalitres of flood water flowing down the Darling River.

The flows are set to boost NSW Murray Irrigation and South Australian irrigators' allocations.

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But, as happened in 2008, the NSW Government is exploiting a loophole in the Murray Darling Basin Agreement that excludes Victoria from gaining any of the Darling River's flows while the Menindee Lakes remain at less than 640,000 megalitres of capacity.

If the lakes reach this trigger point, NSW would have to share half the lakes' inflows with Victoria and also repay a 200,000-megalitre debt of water Victoria holds on the lakes.

Instead, the NSW Government is preparing to partly fill just two of the four Menindee Lakes, which hold just 609,000 megalitres, and divert the rest of the floodwater down the Darling to the Murray River.

A NSW Office of Water briefing paper on the issue states that filling the third Menindee Lake would result in the loss of at least 100,000 megalitres in seepage and evaporation.

However, Victorian Farmers Federation water council chairman Richard Anderson said diverting the water down the Darling to the Murray would give South Australia 100,000 megalitres, much of which would just evaporate off its Lower Lakes.

"We need to review these arrangements, because this happens all the time where Victoria misses out," Mr Anderson said.

The NSW Office of Water estimates at least 300,000 megalitres will reach the Murray River, with South Australia getting a third of the flows under the MDB agreement.

But the agreement demands that half of the 100,000 megalitres flowing down the Murray River to South Australia be supplied by Victoria.

This rule was set to force the Victorian Government to release 50,000 megalitres from its Hume or Dartmouth Dam reserves to meet its South Australian obligations.

However, members of the MDB officials group struck a deal last month whereby Victoria's repayment of the 50,000 megalitre debt would be deducted from the 200,000 megalitres it owns in the Menindee Lakes.

Although the Victoria Government owns water in the Menindee Lakes, it cannot gain access to its 200,000 megalitres share until the lakes rise above the 640,000-megalitre trigger point.

Victorian members of the MDB officials group managed to gain one concession under the Darling deal, which extinguishes Victoria's 50,000 megalitre debt if the floodwaters reaching the Murray rise above 350,000 megalitres.

While the deal delivers nothing to Victorian irrigators, the Darling flood should boost NSW Murray Irrigation general security allocations.

The Federal Government will also benefit, given it holds 145,785 megalitres of NSW general security entitlement on the Murray River.