Connections water to be sold

RURAL water authority Goulburn-Murray Water will begin regular sales of its allocation water.

The water authority has acquired the allocation through reconfiguration and modernisation projects.

G-M Water managing director Gavin Hanlon said G-MW had acquired water shares as a "transitional step" in finalising modernisation and reconfiguration projects and customers' connection agreements.

"This means we receive seasonal allocations and pay the storage fees," Mr Hanlon said.

He said G-MW would engage water brokers for the sale so it was clearly separate from the rest of the water authority's business.

"We are putting processes in place to ensure we minimise any impact on local water markets and we will use the revenue to offset our annual water charges," Mr Hanlon said.

The G-MW Connections Project owns about 20,000ML of water shares on the Campaspe, Murray and Goulburn Systems.

More than two million megalitres of water shares are owned by farmers, regional urban water corporations and the environment.

At the completion of the Project in 2018 G-MW does not expect to own any water shares or allocation.