About the area
- The Campaspe groundwater catchment is in northern Victoria. It extends from the Great Dividing Range at Woodend and Trentham in the south to the Murray River near Echuca in the north.
- The Campaspe groundwater catchment contains the Lower Campaspe Valley Water Supply Protection Area (WSPA), Shepparton Irrigation Region Groundwater Management Area (GMA), West Goulburn GMA, and Central Victorian Mineral Springs GMA. The area not covered by GMUs is reported as outside management units.
- The Shepparton Irrigation Region GMA and West Goulburn GMA extend into the Goulburn-Broken groundwater catchment. The Central Victorian Mineral Springs GMA straddles this catchment and the Loddon and West Port Phillip Bay groundwater catchments.
- Groundwater resources supply licensed entitlement (irrigation), domestic and stock use and urban use to Elmore and Trentham.
- The Campaspe groundwater catchment is part of the Murray-Darling Basin, and groundwater management arrangements are subject to the requirements of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
More information on water management and accounting is detailed in Water explained.
2021-22 overview
Urban supply
Groundwater supplied 2 towns in the catchment.
Restrictions on use
Lower Campaspe Valley WSPA was restricted to 75% of licence volume.
Water use
Less water was used for consumptive purposes than the previous year.
Climate
Rainfall
More rainfall was received in the Campaspe groundwater catchment in 2021-22 than the previous year. Rainfall was:
- average in the east from Elmore down to Woodend in the south-east
- above average everywhere north of Elmore as well as in the west around Bendigo down to Trentham in the south-west.
Groundwater level trends
In the accounts, groundwater level trends for groundwater management units (GMUs) have been determined based on monitoring data from key bores in the State Observation Bore Network. Trend determinations are made quarterly by comparing each reading to a previous reading in the same season 5 years prior. That is, a summer record is compared to the summer record from 5 years before to account for seasonality.
Groundwater resources are being actively managed. For more detail on the management responses go to the groundwater on the Goulburn-Murray Water website.
In 2021-22, groundwater level trends in the Campaspe groundwater catchment were stable towards the end of the year for all GMUs except the Lower Campaspe Valley WSPA.
Table 1: Groundwater level trends, Campaspe groundwater catchment
Response to water availability
Groundwater restrictions
Annual groundwater allocations in the Lower Campaspe Valley WSPA are determined by comparing the average of annual maximum groundwater recovery levels recorded in key state observation bores from the previous three water years (i.e. a three-year rolling average) against trigger levels outlined in Prescription 1 of the Lower Campaspe Valley WSPA Groundwater Management Plan (the Plan).
- In 2021-22, GMW announced an allocation of 75% for all management zones in the Lower Campaspe Valley WSPA on 17 July 2022. This is the second time a restriction has been placed on licensed groundwater extraction since the Plan was implemented.
Allocations in all other GMUs in the catchment were not restricted.
Entitlements and use
Groundwater licence and use volumes in the Campaspe groundwater catchment are shown below. Some groundwater licences incorporate domestic and stock use, and in these cases the use is reported in the licensed volume.
The licenced volume used under entitlements must not exceed the volume made available to individual licensed entitlement holders. We report on compliance in the GMU local report and the Statewide groundwater .
Water used
Use in the Campaspe groundwater catchment was 33,970 ML, less than 45,855 ML in the previous year.
Entitlement volumes
Rights to water in the Campaspe groundwater catchment are shown below.
Table 2: Groundwater entitlements at 30 June, Campaspe groundwater catchment
Available water and use
The table below shows the total water available and used under entitlements, and estimated domestic and stock use in 2021-22. Total water available under entitlements is the sum of: opening carryover, allocation issued and the net trade in or out of water.
Estimated domestic and stock use is calculated based on an assumed usage per registered bore per year. In this catchment 2 ML usage per bore per year is assumed.
More information on groundwater use and availability has been detailed in the How do we account for section.
In 2021-22, 33,970 ML of water was extracted for consumptive purposes, which was less than the 45,855 ML extracted in the previous year. Of this volume, 31,039 ML was for non-urban (irrigation) use, 145 ML was for urban use, and 2,786 ML was estimated to be for domestic and stock use.
Table 3: Groundwater availability and use, Campaspe groundwater catchment
Management responsibilities
Management of water in the Campaspe groundwater catchment is undertaken by Goulburn-Murray Water.
| Authority | Management responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Goulburn-Murray Water |
|
