About the area
The Stratford Groundwater Management Area (GMA) covers a deep confined sand aquifer with silt, clays and coals extending from Darlimurla to Kalimna, where it partially underlies the Wa De Lock GMA, and fully underlies the Denison GMA, Sale WSPA and Rosedale GMA. The GMA boundary lies within the Central Gippsland and Seaspray groundwater catchments.
The water authority responsible for managing groundwater in the Stratford GMA is Southern Rural Water.
The Stratford GMA Local Management Plan details 2 management zones, where it applies to groundwater resources for all formations below 150 m from the surface in zone 1 and below 350 m from the surface in zone 2.
More information on groundwater management can be found on the Southern Rural website.
Groundwater level trends
Table 1: Groundwater level trends, Stratford GMA
Groundwater restrictions
There were no restrictions on licensed use in the Stratford GMA in 2022-23.
Entitlements and use
Groundwater entitlements have been issued for licensed (non-urban) use and power generation use in the Stratford GMA. Groundwater is also available for domestic and stock use.
Entitlement volumes
Table 2: Groundwater entitlements at 30 June, Stratford GMA
Available water and use
The table below shows the total water available and used under entitlements, and estimated domestic and stock use in 2022-23. 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 GMA, 2 ML usage per bore per year is assumed.
More information on groundwater use and availability has been detailed in How we account for .
Table 3: Available water and use, Stratford GMA
Compliance
Compliance against water entitlements is reported for this groundwater management unit in 1 area:
- water extracted: that the volume of water taken under entitlements during the year does not exceed the total water available to licence holders.
Key points on compliance against entitlements
Current PCV compliance assessment criteria are not applicable in the Stratford GMA. Some licences are located in the footprint of the Stratford GMA, however due to a lack of clarity about the inter-aquifer behaviour of resources it is not possible to assign or assess licence volume and extraction against the GMA.
All licensed users within the Stratford GMA footprint are compliant with their licence conditions including licensed volumes. All changes to licence volumes were made with appropriate approvals.
Total volume extracted under licences was within the available volume
The total volume extracted under licences (19,116 ML) was within the volume available for the year (19,859 ML).
Table 4: PCV vs total entitlement volumes, Stratford GMA
Management responsibilities
Management of water in the Stratford GMA is undertaken by Southern Rural Water.
| Authority | Management responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Southern Rural Water |
|
