GOULBURN VALLEY WATER DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS PLAN FOR UNREGULATED RIVER SUPPLY SYSTEMS MARCH 2017 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan CONTENTS SUNDAY CREEK WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 9 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 10 1.1 System Operating Rules 13 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 17 2.1 Supply Context 17 2.2 Consumption 17 2.3 Goals 18 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 19 2.5 Reliability of Supply 20 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 22 3.1 Summary of Options 22 3.2 Demand Side Options 22 3.3 Supply Side Options 22 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTIONS 24 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 24 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 24 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 27 4.4 Post-drought Actions 30 MANSFIELD WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 31 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 32 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 34 2.1 Supply Context 34 2.2 Consumption 34 2.3 Goals 35 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 36 2.5 Reliability of Supply 37 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 38 3.1 Summary of Options 38 3.2 Demand Side Options 38 3.3 Supply Side Options 39 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 40 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 40 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 42 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 45 4.4 Post-drought Phase Actions 48 UPPER DELATITE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 49 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 50 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 52 2.1 Supply Context 52 2.2 Consumption 52 2.3 Goals 53 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 54 2.5 Reliability of Supply 54 2 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 56 3.1 Summary of Options 56 3.2 Demand Side Options 56 3.3 Supply Side Options 56 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 58 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 58 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 60 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 62 4.4 Post-drought Phase Actions 64 EUROA AND VIOLET TOWN WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 65 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 66 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 68 2.1 Supply Context 68 2.2 Consumption 68 2.3 Goals 69 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 70 2.5 Reliability of Supply 71 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 72 3.1 Summary of Options 72 3.2 Demand Side Options 72 3.3 Supply Side Options 72 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 74 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 74 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 76 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 78 4.4 Post-Drought Actions 81 STRATHBOGIE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 82 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 83 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 84 2.1 Supply Context 84 2.2 Consumption 84 2.3 Goals 85 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 86 2.5 Reliability of Supply 86 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 88 3.1 Summary of Options 88 3.2 Demand Side Options 88 3.3 Supply Side Options 88 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 90 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 90 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 91 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 93 4.4 Post-Drought Actions 95 LONGWOOD WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 96 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 97 3 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 98 2.1 Supply Context 98 2.2 Consumption 98 2.3 Goals 99 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 100 2.5 Reliability of Supply 101 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 102 3.1 Summary of Options 102 3.2 Demand Side Options 102 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 104 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 104 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 106 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 108 4.4 Post-drought Actions 111 MARYSVILLE-BUXTON WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 112 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 113 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 114 2.1 Supply Context 114 2.2 Consumption 114 2.3 Goals 115 2.4 Review of Past drought Experience 116 2.5 Reliability of Supply 116 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 118 3.1 Summary of Options 118 3.2 Demand Side Options 118 3.3 Supply Side Options 118 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 121 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 121 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 123 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 126 4.4 Post-drought Actions 129 PYALONG WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 130 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 131 2 OVERALL FRAMWORK 133 2.1 Supply Context 133 2.2 Consumption 133 2.3 Goals 134 2.4 Review of Past drought Experience 135 2.5 Reliability of Supply 136 2.6 Water Quality 136 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 137 3.1 Summary of Options 137 3.2 Demand Side Options 137 3.3 Supply Side Options 137 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 139 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 139 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 140 4 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 143 4.4 Post-drought Actions 146 WOODS POINT WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 147 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 148 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 151 2.1 Supply Context 151 2.2 Consumption 151 2.3 Goals 152 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 153 2.5 Reliability of Supply 153 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 155 3.1 Summary of Options 155 3.2 Demand Side Options 155 3.3 Supply Side Options 156 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 157 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 157 4.2 Pre-drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 158 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 161 4.4 Post-drought Actions 164 YEA WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 165 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 166 2 OVERALL FRAMEWORK 167 2.1 Supply Context 167 2.2 Consumption 167 2.3 Goals 168 2.4 Review of Past Drought Experience 169 2.5 Reliability of Supply 169 3 DROUGHT RESPONSE OPTIONS 171 3.1 Summary of Options 171 3.2 Demand Side Options 171 3.3 Supply Side Options 171 4 DROUGHT RESPONSE ACTION PLAN 173 4.1 Drought Response Triggers 173 4.2 Pre-Drought Phase Actions – General Monitoring 174 4.3 Drought Phase Actions 177 4.4 Post-Drought Actions 180 REFERENCES 181 Appendix A – Water Restriction By-Law 512 182 5 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan INTRODUCTION This document contains the Drought Preparedness Plan (incorporating the Drought Response Plan in Section 5.3) for the unregulated water supply system managed by Goulburn Valley Water, which describes how the corporation will prepare for and manage its systems during an extreme dry period or extreme water quality event. This DPP is based on information available in early 2017. The purpose of a Drought Preparedness Plan is to provide a ready reference for Goulburn Valley Region Water Corporation to use for operational guidance. The Drought Preparedness Plan (DPP) details the actions required to prepare for, respond to and learn from periods of water shortage. The broad purpose of a Drought Preparedness Plan is to ensure that the Water Corporation develop its preparedness strategy to meet the agreed levels of service through an adaptive management framework. This framework comprises a number of inter-related long and short term processes; ensures that the community is informed and prepared about impending water shortage periods and GVW has a timely and effective short-term response to the occurrence of water shortage, with the aim of minimising the impacts (social, economic, and environmental) of such shortages. The Plan was prepared in accordance with current State Government guidelines for preparing Urban Water Strategies, including Drought Preparedness Plans (DELWP, 2017). It supersedes the previous manuals. DPPs have been prepared for each of the water supply systems as listed in Table 1. A map showing the location of towns can be found in Figure 1. Table 1 GVW’s Water Supply Systems Towns supplied Source of water Broadford, Kilmore, Wandong, Heathcote Sunday Creek, Goulburn River Junction, Waterford Park Euroa, Violet Town Sevens Creek, Mountain Hut Ck Strathbogie Sevens Creek Goulburn system Goulburn River Katunga Groundwater Longwood Nine Mile Ck Mansfield Delatite River Marysville, Buxton Steavenson River Merrijig and Sawmill Settlement Delatite River Murray system River Murray Pyalong Mollison Ck Woods Point Brewery Ck, Goulburn River Yea Yea River 6 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan The DPP is a dynamic document which is refined as more information becomes available. It is therefore important to regularly revise and update the DPP. In the event of a drought, procedures are set out for reviewing the documents and updating them based on actual drought experience. Each section of this document considers an individual supply system and includes a supply system description. Sections 2 and 3 of each DPP provides a brief description of the basis on which the action plan for coping with drought has been developed. Section 4 of the DPPs details the action plan by setting out the various steps Goulburn Valley Water (GVW) will take to respond to a drought or extreme water quality event. 7 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Unregulated River Supply Systems Drought Preparedness and Response Plan Figure 1 Locality plan of towns within the Goulburn Valley Water district 8 SUNDAY CREEK WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS PLAN FEBRUARY 2017 GOULBURN VALLEY REGION WATER CORPORATION Sunday Creek Water Supply System Drought Preparedness Plan 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION The Sunday Creek system includes supply to Broadford, Kilmore, Wandong, Heathcote Junction and Waterford Park. The sources of supply are from diversion weirs on Hazel and Harpers Creek, from Sunday Creek Reservoir and from a pipeline connecting to the Goulburn River at Seymour.