Lake Eildon
Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:24): (199) My question is for the Minister for Water. Minister, today Lake Eildon is at 97.1 per cent capacity. Yesterday and over the next few days 12,000 megalitres per day is being released from Lake Eildon. At the same time the inflows are 14,000 megalitres per day. With recent rains the ground is saturated, and with inflows exceeding releases the lake will continue to fill. Minister, when is Lake Eildon expected to reach 100 per cent capacity?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:25): Ms Lovell, I am not going to seek to anticipate what might fall from the sky. That is the job of various experts in an imperfect setting, based not on knowing what the future may hold but on informed calculations such as those received from the Bureau of Meteorology.
As you would be aware, our major storages in northern Victoria are not designed for flood mitigation. But as you have pointed out, the storages are high and we have been undertaking controlled releases – as you have indicated, around 12,000 megalitres – over recent days to manage the rising levels of Lake Eildon. We are also undertaking an assessment of the operating arrangements at Lake Eppalock and also Eildon, and Goulburn–Murray Water has begun a review process around the operational rules at Loch Garry and any changes to infrastructure that might be made available as a consequence of that work. That might include gates, valves, pipes et cetera.
We know – and so many people around rural and regional Victoria know – particularly after the flooding that occurred last October, that heavy rains are an enormously distressing event, particularly for people who live downstream and for people who lost livestock, crops, property and buildings. The impact of clean-up and of assistance does continue. We are working really hard to minimise the impact of the recent rains, and that is why those controlled releases are occurring.
As I said, I cannot tell you when it is that the capacity of certain storages will reach certain points. But what we do have is, as you have said, around 97 per cent – it was 96.9 as at 16 June – and we are actually undertaking the hydrogeological testing to make sure that we are managing risk. During any releases, Goulburn–Murray Water will work with communities downstream of Eildon and also landholders along the Goulburn River to manage the risks and the concerns that people are raising. In fact there was a meeting just yesterday, I believe, with landholders and Goulburn–Murray Water, along with a representative from DEECA, as part of ongoing community discussion about preparedness for changes in rainfall events. But I also want to note that given climatic volatility and a 70 per cent chance of an El Niño event – again this is modelling done by the Bureau of Meteorology – we do have a number of areas where we need to be aware of risk not just in terms of too much water but also in relation to not enough.
Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:28): Minister, the release of 12,000 megalitres from the lake sees minor flood levels in the downstream community of Molesworth. The Applebys were completely flooded out in October last year, with 98 per cent of their property underwater. They suffered the trauma of stock losses and property damage, including a much-loved horse that left an orphaned foal. I am aware that Goulburn–Murray Water manage Lake Eildon, but I am keen to know: what advice have you received about the impact on the local communities downstream of Lake Eildon if releases that cause flooding are required over a sustained period of time?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:29): As I have indicated in the answer to the substantive question, and based on the starting point that you made around the release of 12,000 megalitres, there has been a range, between 9000 and 12,000 megalitres per day, to manage the increasing volume in Lake Eildon, and this is part of ongoing discussions with community. We want people, including the family that you have identified in your supplementary question, to have information to hand that helps them to manage risk and also to be able to understand where the longer term forecasts and where the projections are taking us. I have consistently stressed the importance of ongoing community engagement as a priority with Goulburn–Murray Water and that community members downstream of Eildon, including the family that you have spoken to, remain informed throughout the winter and spring periods. And I am continuing to get advice and information, including from the Bureau of Meteorology, from Goulburn–Murray Water and from others, so that we have this information to hand now and over the winter months, when the Bureau of Meteorology’s three-month weather outlook indicates that there is a less than 20 per cent chance of above-average rainfall.