DEECA Victorian Water Accounts 2023-24

About the area

The Seaspray groundwater catchment is in Victoria’s south-east.

The Seaspray groundwater catchment contains the Giffard groundwater management area (GMA), Yarram water supply protection area (WSPA), and Stratford GMA. The area not covered by these is reported as outside management units.

The Stratford GMA and the Yarram WSPA extend into the Central Gippsland groundwater catchment.

Groundwater resources within the catchment supply licensed entitlements, domestic and stock use, and urban use to Yarram. Groundwater use in the Seaspray groundwater catchment is mostly for irrigation.

More information on water management and accounting is detailed in Water explained.

2023-24 overview

Urban supply

Groundwater supplied to 1 town in the catchment.

Water use

More water was used for consumptive purposes than the previous year.

Climate

Rainfall

There was a similar amount of rainfall received in the Seaspray groundwater catchment in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, being close to the long-term average in most of the catchment. Rainfall was above average along the northern border of the catchment.

Figure 1 displays the rainfall received in 2023-24 compared to the long-term average (1975-2024).

Figure 1: Rainfall deciles, Seaspray groundwater catchment

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Sourced from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Groundwater level trends

In the Accounts, groundwater level trends for groundwater management units (GMUs) have been determined by 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; for example, a summer record is compared to the summer record from 5 years earlier to account for seasonality. These trends are shown in Table 1 below.

Groundwater resources are being actively managed. For more detail on management responses, go to Groundwater on the Southern Rural Water website.

In 2023-24, groundwater level trends for the Stratford GMA and Yarram WSPA were rising towards the end of the year. Trends for Giffard GMA were stable towards the end of the year.A trendfor the Rosedale GMA could not be determined towards the end of the year due to data availability, but was declining in the prior quarter to December 2023.

Table 1: Groundwater level trends, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Groundwater management unit ^{1, 2}	2022-23	2023-24
Groundwater management area
Giffard	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable
Rosedale ³	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Ins-Data	Ins-Data
Stratford	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising
Water supply protection area
Yarram ⁴	Declining	Stable	Declining	Stable	Declining	Rising	Rising	Rising

Groundwater management unit ^{1, 2}	2022-23	2023-24
Groundwater management area
Giffard	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable
Rosedale ³	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Ins-Data	Ins-Data
Stratford	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising
Water supply protection area
Yarram ⁴	Declining	Stable	Declining	Stable	Declining	Rising	Rising	Rising

Response to water availability

Groundwater restrictions

There were no restrictions on licensed groundwater use in 2023-24, the same as previous year.

Entitlements and use

Groundwater licence and use volumes in the Seaspray groundwater catchment are shown below. Domestic and stock use does not require a licence, so in the Groundwater availability and take table (Table 3), these rows only report water taken.

The licensed volume used under entitlements must not exceed the volume made available to individual licensed entitlement holders. We report on compliance in the GMU local reports and in the Statewide groundwater summary.

Water used

Use in the Seaspray groundwater catchment was 10,291 ML, more than the 7,305 ML used in the previous year.

Entitlement volumes

Rights to water in the Seaspray groundwater catchment are shown below.

Table 2: Groundwater entitlements at 30 June, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Groundwater management unit/Use type	2022-23 (ML)	2023-24 (ML)
Giffard GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	5,689	5,689
Stratford GMA
Licensed use (non-urban) ¹	362	362
Yarram WSPA
Licensed use (non-urban) ²	18,585	18,585
Yarram urban ²	214	214
Outside management units
Licensed use (non-urban)	536	536
Total	25,386	25,386

Groundwater management unit/Use type	2022-23 (ML)	2023-24 (ML)
Giffard GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	5,689	5,689
Stratford GMA
Licensed use (non-urban) ¹	362	362
Yarram WSPA
Licensed use (non-urban) ²	18,585	18,585
Yarram urban ²	214	214
Outside management units
Licensed use (non-urban)	536	536
Total	25,386	25,386

Available water and take

The table below shows the total water available and taken under entitlements, and estimated domestic and stock use in 2023-24. 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, the assumed usage is 1.5 ML usage per bore per year.

More information on groundwater use and availability has been detailed in How we account for groundwater.

In 2023-24, 10,291 ML of water was extracted for consumptive purposes, which was more than the 7,305 ML extracted in the previous year. Of this volume, 9,733 ML was for non-urban (irrigation) use, 9 ML was for urban use, and 549 ML was estimated to be for domestic and stock use.

Table 3: Groundwater availability and take, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Groundwater management unit/Use type	Available water (ML)	Water taken (ML)
Giffard GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	5,689	0	5,689	2,621
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	153
Rosedale GMA
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	5
Stratford GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	362	0	362	40
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	2
Yarram WSPA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	18,576	0	18,576	6,983
Yarram urban	-	214	0	214	9
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	278
Outside management units
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	536	0	536	89
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	111
Total 2023-24	0	25,377	0	25,377	10,291
Total 2022-23	0	25,385	(8)	25,377	7,305

Groundwater management unit/Use type	Available water (ML)	Water taken (ML)
Giffard GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	5,689	0	5,689	2,621
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	153
Rosedale GMA
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	5
Stratford GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	362	0	362	40
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	2
Yarram WSPA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	18,576	0	18,576	6,983
Yarram urban	-	214	0	214	9
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	278
Outside management units
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	536	0	536	89
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	111
Total 2023-24	0	25,377	0	25,377	10,291
Total 2022-23	0	25,385	(8)	25,377	7,305

Management responsibilities

Management of water in the Seaspraygroundwater catchment is undertaken by Southern Rural Water.

Authority	Management responsibilities
Southern Rural Water	Managing groundwater resources. Developing and implementing groundwater management plans. Issuing licences for groundwater use and bore construction. Administering water for domestic and stock use.

Authority

Management responsibilities

Southern Rural Water

Managing groundwater resources.

Developing and implementing groundwater management plans.

Issuing licences for groundwater use and bore construction.

Administering water for domestic and stock use.

Nearby groundwater catchments

Central Gippsland

Explore the Central Gippsland groundwater catchment (GC).

Explore

Tarwin

Explore the Tarwin groundwater catchment (GC).

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Seaspray

On this page:

In this area

About the area

2023-24 overview

Urban supply

Water use

Climate

Rainfall

Figure 1: Rainfall deciles, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Groundwater level trends

Table 1: Groundwater level trends, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Response to water availability

Groundwater restrictions

Entitlements and use

Water used

Entitlement volumes

Table 2: Groundwater entitlements at 30 June, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Available water and take

Table 3: Groundwater availability and take, Seaspray groundwater catchment

Management responsibilities

Nearby groundwater catchments

Central Gippsland

Tarwin

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Victorian Water Accounts

Groundwater management unit ^{1, 2}	2022-23				2023-24
Groundwater management unit ^{1, 2}	Sep-22	Dec-22	Mar-23	Jun-23	Sep-23	Dec-23	Mar-24	Jun-24
Groundwater management area
Giffard	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable	Stable
Rosedale ³	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Declining	Ins-Data	Ins-Data
Stratford	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising	Rising
Water supply protection area
Yarram ⁴	Declining	Stable	Declining	Stable	Declining	Rising	Rising	Rising

Groundwater management unit/Use type	Available water (ML)				Water taken (ML)
Groundwater management unit/Use type	Carryover	Licensed volume allocated	Net trade	Total water available	Water taken (ML)
Giffard GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	5,689	0	5,689	2,621
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	153
Rosedale GMA
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	5
Stratford GMA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	362	0	362	40
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	2
Yarram WSPA
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	18,576	0	18,576	6,983
Yarram urban	-	214	0	214	9
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	278
Outside management units
Licensed use (non-urban)	-	536	0	536	89
Domestic & stock	-	-	-	-	111
Total 2023-24	0	25,377	0	25,377	10,291
Total 2022-23	0	25,385	(8)	25,377	7,305