Talking Water - Tuesday 26 September, 2023

This week's contents

Operations

• High demand - get your orders in early
• Lodging an unsatisfied order
• Not taking flow
• Planning for high demand over summer
• Daylight savings and water orders
• Casual usage charges
• Water Delivery Performance
• Talking Water data to 26 September

Business

• Customer Information Sessions Q&A
• Member Director election voting closes Monday  
  

Industry

• Basin Plan amendments: Upcoming public events
• Improving soil carbon webinar

Community

• Drought plan consultation to begin
• The Hidden Giant: Deniliquin Structure Talk 

Operational Update

High demand - get your orders in early

With the dry spring, we are experiencing high demand for water deliveries and expect this to continue. 

We are therefore encouraging customers to place your orders with four days’ notice to guarantee delivery of the water order.   
 
Flow restrictions may occur in channels where demand exceeds the physical capacity of the channel section. 

Read more in our Restrictions and Flow Shares Fact Sheet or contact us if you have any concerns or would like further explanation. 

At times of high demand, to help minimise chances of interruptions to your orders: 

• Please ensure you place your orders as soon as possible. To guarantee delivery, a four-day order notification is required.
• Consider filling on-farm storages prior to your high demand needs to ensure you can supplement if flows need to be restricted. 
• If you are not happy with the future date the water ordering system offers you, please place an unsatisfied order (see our 'How to' section below). This will place you in the queue for a four-day start, at a restricted flow rate, or earlier if capacity becomes available. 
• Remember that your flow will be determined by the flow shares on your landholding.
• Please don’t delay updating your order changes for extensions or increases. 

If you need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us: 1300 138 265 or email: customersupport@murrayirrigation.com.au

How do I lodge an unsatisfied order?

If you receive the below message when you enter your order and you prefer an earlier date: 

Select 'Reject' to lodge an unsatisfied order.

You will then receive the below message: 

Select 'Continue'. 

This will place your order as a unsatisfied request and put you in the queue to receive your order as soon as capacity is available, or at a restricted flow in four days.

You can find more details in our Water Ordering Guide. Otherwise feel free to contact us and we can show you how. 

Not taking flow

It is critical to take the flow ordered as it can cause channel performance issues, downstream impacts to other customers and infrastructure damage including bank erosion and seepage. 

If you are having on-farm issues and are not taking your ordered flow, you will receive a call from the team to understand why. 

We are committed to deliver on your order, but if you are not taking the volume ordered, your order will likely be reduced to the flow you are taking to prevent issues, particularly if we are unable to contact you. 

Call us if you're having issues with your order or supply: 1300 138 265.

Planning for high demand over summer

Our team has been working to identify potential water demand hotspots based on your irrigation intentions and areas affected by restrictions in recent seasons. 

We are hosting meetings with customers in areas affected by restrictions last season to prepare for the high demand. 

The purpose of the meetings is to provide information on flow shares, how we manage flow restrictions, and what you can expect during high demand periods. 

Further meetings will be conducted as potential hot spots are identified when we have your summer irrigation intentions.

If you would like to understand how flow shares work, please contact us to arrange an appointment with our engagement team. 

Daylight savings and water orders

Daylight savings begins this Sunday 1 October.
 
If you are placing an order to end after this date, the water ordering system will automatically increase the order by an hour to the normal finish time to enable lodgement. 

Our team will manually adjust all operating orders ending after 1 October to the correct operating time for the channel system.

For more information, call us on 1300 138 265 or send us an email: customersupport@murrayirrigation.com.au

Casual usage charges

To avoid casual usage fees, remember to check your 'DE Transfer Limit' available on your Customer Portal, Water Allocation page. 

If your DE transfer limit is negative, you can trade in or purchase annual delivery entitlements on the Water Exchange. 

Casual usage fees are applied to your quarterly invoice when the megalitre usage is greater than 120% of the annual delivery entitlements on your account. 

For more on tiered usage fees, you can check out our Schedule of Charges.

Water Delivery Performance - 18/09/2023 to 24/09/2023

Talking Water data  26/09/2023

All the detailed data for Murray Irrigation allocations, delivery, channel flow and Water Exchange temporary trade data is available on our company web page below. 

To see the latest data for Murray system storages and rivers, visit the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's River data page. 

Additional resources 

MDBA weekly report
NSW Water allocation statements
Rainfall and evaporation
Barmah Choke trade balance

The information and data provided in Talking Water is for general reference purposes only. We take best endeavours to ensure accuracy. 

Business Update

Customer Information Sessions Q&A now available

As mentioned in last week's edition of Talking Water, Murray Irrigation has now finalised our responses to questions that were raised at our recent Customer Information Sessions.

These responses are available on our website, at the following link: www.murrayirrigation.com.au/businessreview#CustomerInformationSessions

For customers who were unable to attend these sessions, we have also published a video of our presentation which explains the business review and the Board's chosen strategy for long term financial sustainability. This video goes for just over 40 minutes and can be viewed via the following link: https://youtu.be/gxJXyynwqtU or on our website. 

We look forward to keeping customers updated as we implement our new strategy from 1 July 2024.

As always, if you have any specific questions or feedback about the business review and/or the Board's chosen strategy for long-term financial sustainability please feel free to call us on 1300 138 265 or email: review@murrayirrigation.com.au

Member Director election voting closes Monday

Shareholders have less than one week to have their say in this year's Member Director election. 

The ballot box officially closes at 9.00am (AEDT) next Monday, 2 October. Shareholders will be unable to submit their vote after this time. 

At the closing of the election period, independent third-party voting service provider, Vero Voting, will conduct a final count verification process before Murray Irrigation formally announces the results. 

The elected Member Directors will commence their four-year terms immediately after the completion of the company's 2023 Annual General Meeting, which is being held on Thursday 30 November. 

Five candidates are contesting three available Member Director positions on Murray Irrigation's Board. The candidates (whose order have been determined by random draw) are as follows: 

• Brendan Barry
• Ryan Gleeson
• Troy Mauger
• Noel Baxter 
• Steven Fawns.

To assist shareholders with the electronic voting process, we have published a 'How to vote' instruction guide on our website. Furthermore, shareholders who may not have internet access are more than welcome to drop-in to our Deniliquin or Finley office between 8.30am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, to cast their vote.
 
For everything you need to know about our 2023 Member Director election, including candidate statements, our 'How to vote' guide, frequently asked questions and how Murray Irrigation’s optional preferential voting system works, please visit our Member Director web page below. 

Industry News

Basin Plan amendments: Upcoming public events

Online Basin Plan Community Information Session: 27 September 

The National Farmers' Federation is hosting a webinar this Wednesday September 27 regarding the Federal Government's plans to amend the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Commencing at 7.00pm, register for this short online briefing to learn exactly what these changes could mean for you, and how you can have your say through a Senate review process.

Click here to register: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4284ac05-5d9f-40ac-b7f4-42bdee0cf36d@7a386100-22f6-4adc-b20a-22dec1256272

Murray-Darling Basin Listening Tour Community Meetings: 4 October

Federal Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley, is hosting a community meeting in Griffith next Wednesday to discuss the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023, which is proposing amendments to the Water Act and the Basin Plan: 

• Griffith Regional Theatre - Wednesday 4 October from 10.00am to 12 noon. 

Members of the Coalition Backbench Committee on Agriculture, including Shadow Water Minister, Senator Perin Davey, Senator Matt Canavan, Sam Birrell MP and Rowan Ramsay MP, will be on hand at this meeting to listen and gather community feedback regarding this significant issue, which will help inform the position the Coalition will take on the Water Act Amendments. 
 
Please RSVP by 2:00pm Tuesday 3 October to: 02 6964 1212 or farrer@aph.gov.au 

Improving soil carbon webinar

The Irrigated Cropping Council, now known as Irrigated Farmers Network, presents this webinar 'What does net zero mean?' that is focused on increasing awareness about the local research into building soil carbon, and practical strategies to build soil organic carbon on farm.

Presenters, Dr Cassandra Schefe (Leader of the 'Cool Soil Initiative', an industry program to support reductions in GHG emissions in cropping) and Dr Kate Burke (agri-strategist, author and keynote speaker), speak about the impact of net zero on the activities and practises of irrigation and mixed business farmers, and discuss how they can prepare.

Community News

Drought plan consultation to begin

Edward River Council, along with Federation, Berrigan Shire and Murray River Councils, have been successful in attracting $560,000 worth of funding to develop a Southern Riverina Drought Resilience Plan that will work across all four Councils.

Communities across the footprint will be engaged to ensure the lessons of the millennial drought are included in the plan. Consultation dates in the Murray River Council as follows:

• Wakool Bowling Club - Wednesday 11 October from 1.00pm to 6.00pm 
• Barham riverside receptions centre - Thursday 12 October from10.00am to 4.00pm
• Moulamein Bowling Club – Friday 13 October from 1.00pm to 6.00pm



These are drop-in sessions, so you can attend and chat to the team when it suits.

The Hidden Giant: Deniliquin Structure Talk

Deniliquin U3A and Edward River Council are bringing researcher Tony Yeates to Deniliquin on October 17 to present on the discovery of a massive ancient meteorite crater buried deep beneath the town.   

The crater has yet to be tested by drilling, but is believed to be linked to a mass extinction event. 

This discovery not only opens the doors to the mysterious world of impact craters, but also raises important questions about the history of our planet.

This free event starts at 6.00pm at Deniliquin Town Hall Theatre.