CONTROVERSIAL changes to water carryover rules in Victoria have been delayed until 2014.
Water Minister Peter Walsh announced changes to carryover in November, with the changes due to take effect in July next year.
Irrigators would be only allowed to carryover volumes up to 100 per cent of their entitlement and would lose any excess they did not use or sell.
The water is held in spillable accounts and can only be accessed when there is a low risk of spill declaration.
Some irrigators criticised the short time frame for the implementation of the carryover cap.
However, Mr Walsh attributed today's changes to there being no declaration of a low risk of spill.
He said the climatic conditions of recent months had seen no change to the declaration of a low risk of spill for the Victorian Murray storages and as a result, the cap on carryover would now take effect from June 30, 2014.
"Given that there was no declaration of a low risk of spill for the Murray system in December, it is appropriate to give water users in this system an additional period to adjust their holdings to work within the new carryover limit," Mr Walsh said.
"The end-of-season cap will be introduced to take effect for the 2014 water year.
