Murray Irrigation Limited A.C.N. 067 197 933 MURRAY IRRIGATION LIMITED COMPLIANCE REPORT 2003/04 Compliance Report 2004 MURRAY IRRIGATION LIMITED 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Supply Management ........................................................ 4 Diversions Deliveries and Losses.......................................................................... 4 Irrigation Water Quality..................................................................................... 5 Supply Refurbishment & Review .......................................................................... 5 Telemetry ...................................................................................................... 7 Water Trade ................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: Stormwater Management ................................................. 9 Water Quality Analysis ...................................................................................... 9 Pesticide Monitoring ....................................................................................... 16 Blue-Green Algae Monitoring............................................................................ 17 Impact on Receiving Waterways......................................................................... 18 Pumping Drainage Water into Supply Channels ...................................................... 20 Noxious Aquatic Weeds ................................................................................... 20 Agricultural Chemical Use ............................................................................... 21 Chapter 3: Groundwater Management .............................................. 22 Wakool Tullakool Sub-Surface Drainage Scheme .................................................... 22 Other Tubewell Pumping ................................................................................. 25 Trends in Regional Watertable Levels .................................................................. 26 Risk of Salinity (Benchmark)............................................................................. 32 Rootzone Salinity (Benchmark) .......................................................................... 32 Chapter 4: On-Farm Management.................................................... 34 Climatic Conditions ........................................................................................ 34 Landuse ...................................................................................................... 35 Irrigation Layout ........................................................................................... 36 Water Use ................................................................................................... 36 Total Farm Water Balance ................................................................................ 37 Rice Water Use ............................................................................................. 38 Waterlogging (Benchmark) ............................................................................... 39 Farm Water Use Efficiency (Benchmark) .............................................................. 39 Adoption of Best Management Practices (Benchmark) .............................................. 43 Soil Acidity (Benchmark) ................................................................................. 44 Status of Native Vegetation (Benchmark) .............................................................. 44 Socio Economic Status (Benchmark) .................................................................... 46 Community Understanding of Best Management Practices (Benchmark) ......................... 46 Chapter 5: Murray Land and Water Management Plans ....................... 47 LWMP Implementation ................................................................................... 47 Berriquin LWMP ........................................................................................... 50 Cadell LWMP .............................................................................................. 54 Denimein LWMP .......................................................................................... 63 Wakool LWMP ............................................................................................. 69 Murray LWMP R&D Program .......................................................................... 74 Stormwater Escape Construction ........................................................................ 76 2 MURRAY IRRIGATION LIMITED Compliance Report 2004 Appendix One: Benchmark and Compliance Index............................... 81 Appendix 1.1: Table of Benchmarks.................................................................... 81 Appendix 1.2: Table of Compliance Items............................................................. 81 Appendix Two: Pesticide Summary .................................................. 82 Appendix 2.1: Pesticide Summary October-December 2003 ....................................... 82 Appendix 2.2: Exceedence Levels of Molinate and Thiobencarb .................................. 83 Appendix Three: Environment Report Compliance Issues 2002/03. .......... 84 Appendix 3.1: DIPNR..................................................................................... 84 Appendix 3.2: NSW Department of Primary Industry ............................................... 85 Appendix 3.3: Department of Environment and Conservation ..................................... 85 Appendix Four: Published Documents ............................................... 86 Appendix 4.1: Murray LWMP Documentation Produced ........................................... 86 Appendix 4.2: Environmental Documentation Produced ............................................ 86 Appendix Five: Landholder Chemical Usage Report ............................. 87 Appendix Six: Stormwater Escape Additional Information ..................... 88 Appendix 6.1: Summary of Total Flow Discharges from MIL Area of Operations ............ 88 Appendix 6.3: Monthly Turbidity and Nutrient Data for MIL Discharge Sites ................. 88 Appendix 6.2: Salinity Levels Discharged from MIL Area of Operations ....................... 89 Appendix 6.6: Total Nitrogen Levels within MILs Stormwater Escape System................. 90 Appendix 6.4: Turbidity Levels of Surface Water.................................................... 91 Appendix 6.5: Total Phosphorus Levels within MILs Stormwater Escape System ............. 91 Appendix Seven: Murray LWMP Annual Landholder Survey................. 92 Appendix 7.1: Annual LWMP Landholder Survey Form ........................................... 92 Appendix Eight: Theiss Report ...................................................... 104 Appendix 8.1: Theiss Services Drainage Water Report ............................................ 104 Appendix Nine: LWMP Annual Landholder Survey Audit Draft Report..177 Appendix 9.1: Murray LWMP Annual Landholder Survey Audit Report - Draft..............177 Compliance Report 2004 MURRAY IRRIGATION LIMITED 3 Chapter 1: Supply Management Diversions Deliveries and Losses The bulk water allocation for Murray Irrigation in 2003/04 was 892,171ML (55% of Table 1.1: Summary of Diversions Deliveries and Losses (ML) allocation). Figure 1.1 and Table 1.1 illustrate by month 2003/04 diversion figures in detail. Diverted Delivered Loss Loss % August 26,371 4,315 22,056 83.64 September 53,579 37,740 15,839 29.56 Determining supply efficiency October 91,582 64,139 27,443 29.97 (Benchmark) November 89,661 67,858 21,803 24.32 December 69,554 48,719 20,835 29.96 Irrigation supply efficiency is measured in terms January 143,284 116,564 26,720 18.65 of the water delivered on farm expressed as a February 100,710 74,076 26,634 26.45 percentage of the water diverted. Table 1.2 March 162,226 118,723 43,503 26.82 shows the annual allocation to the Murray April 125,610 111,593 14,017 11.16 Irrigation area of operation and the delivery May -6,902 14,881 -21,783 efficiency for the period 1993/94 to 2003/04, Totals 855,675 658,608 197,067 defined by: Escape Credits Source Volume (ML) Escape Volume (ML) Total Delivered Carried over 2003/04 85,196 Edward River 307,248 658,608ML Allocation 2003/04 892,171 Finley Escape 27,000 Off Allocation 70,064 Wakool River 28,061 Transfers in 114,726 Yallakool Creek 2,649 Snowy Payback -124,000 Pericoota Escape 3,761 Tuppal Creek 1,122 Resource Available Gross Diversions Net Diversions 1,038,157ML 1,225,616ML (Mulwala Canal, Wakool Canal) Carryover 2004/05 Losses 182,482ML 197,067ML 23.03% of Net Diversion Figure 1.1: Diversions and Deliveries Flow Chart 2003/04 Table 1.2: Delivery Efficiency of Murray Irrigation Operations 1993/94 – 2003/04 Supply = Water Delivered x 100 Year Diversions (ML) Deliveries (ML) Loss (ML) Efficiency (%) Efficiency Water Diverted 1 1993/94 1,269,336 1,015,469 253,867* 80 1994/95 1,565,891 1,298,515 267,367 82.9 1995/96 1,511,956 1,291,181 220,775 85.4 The relationship between annual 1996/97 1,761,812 1,471,910 289,902 83.5 allocation and delivery efficiency 1997/98 1,381,656 1,045,658 335,998 75.7 highlights the relative consistency of 1998/99 1,468,662 1,167,755 300,887 79.5 delivery efficiency for the range of 1999/00 891,127 675,155 215,972 75.8 annual allocations received. 2000/01 1,557,785 1,295,437 262,348 83.2 2001/02 1,509,356 1,239,536 270,356 82.1 2002/03 529,329 399,740 129,589 75.5 2003/04 855,675 658,608 197,067 77 Average 1,300,235 1,050,815 226,387