About the area
The Loddon basin is in northern Victoria and includes the Loddon River and a number of smaller connected floodplain channels including Tullaroop, Serpentine, Twelve Mile, Pyramid, Bullock and Bendigo creeks. The basin is crossed by:
- the Waranga Western Channel, which provides water from the Goulburn basin to users in the Loddon Valley Irrigation Area (within the Loddon basin) and
- the Macorna Channel, which provides water from the Murray basin to users in the Torrumbarry Irrigation Area (within the Loddon basin).
The southern part of the basin supplies the Bullarook water shares for irrigators along Birch and Bullarook creeks. For the purposes of these Accounts, the Loddon basin excludes the Torrumbarry Irrigation Area (which is supplied mostly from the Murray River) and the Loddon Valley Irrigation Area (supplied mostly from the Goulburn River).
Annual rainfall is generally low and variable in the basin, decreasing from around 900 mm in the headwaters to below 400 mm in the north.
Mixed grazing of sheep and cattle is common on the steep to undulating land in the basin’s south, with some crop production. Also important in the south are fruit, vegetable and forest industries. Crops are a more important form of land use in the north of the basin where wheat, barley, oats and hay are grown under irrigation. Pig and poultry farming are also significant throughout the basin. Dairy is an important industry in the Torrumbarry Irrigation Area.
More information on water management and accounting is detailed in Water explained.
2023-24 overview
Available water
Catchment inflow was lower than the previous year.
Licensed diversion restrictions
There were more restrictions on licensed diversions than the previous year.
Seasonal determinations
Loddon system reached 100% allocation for high-reliability water shares and low-reliability water shares reached 77% - less than the previous year.
Water use
A similar volume of water was diverted for consumptive purposes as the previous year.
When compared to the previous year, in 2023-24:
- less rainfall was received, catchment inflow was much lower and storage levels peaked and declined at lower levels
- there were more restrictions on licensed diversions from streams
- high-reliability entitlements received 100% (the same as last year), however, less water was available for low-reliability water shares
- about the same volume of water was diverted from the basin for consumptive purposes
- more water was diverted for environmental purposes.
Climate
Rainfall
In 2023-24, less rainfall was received in the Loddon basin than the previous year. Rainfall was:
- above average in most of the northern lowlands of the basin to Inglewood
- average in the centre of the basin, over Bendigo, Castlemaine and Dunolly
- below average to very much below average in the southern headwaters.
Figure 1 displays the rainfall received in 2023-24 compared to the long-term average (1975-2024).
Figure 1: Rainfall deciles, Loddon basin
Sourced from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
River basin water balance
This section describes the known and estimated inflows, outflows and change of storage volumes in the basin.
More detail on major on-stream storages, catchment inflows, diversions and small catchment dams can be found in the sections below the water balance.
In 2023-24, of the total inflows, 70% flowed out at the end of the basin, either to the Murray River or terminal lakes.
Water balance table
The table below shows the total volumes of water available and supplied from water resources in the Loddon basin in 2023-24.
Table 1: Water balance, Loddon basin
Major on-stream storages
Major - greater than 1,000 ML - on-stream storages in the Loddon basin are included in the water balance. Volumes in off-stream storages are presented for additional information about the resource condition.
Storage levels
Storage levels in the Loddon basin were 76% on 30 June 2024.
Lower than the previous year
On 30 June 2023 storage levels were 96% full.
Table 2: Storage levels, Loddon basin
Inflows
Catchment inflow
Catchment inflow represents the volume of water flowing into the waterways of a basin. It is calculated as the total outflows and change in storage minus the known inflows. The long-term average inflow presented has been updated from the previous Victorian Water Accounts, as detailed in Water Explained. The updated long-term average inflow has been applied to this year and the previous year’s volume in this report.
Below average inflows of 202,760 ML were received (84% of the long-term average of 241,400 ML), much less than the previous year (389% of the long-term average).
Below average inflow received
Catchment inflow was 84% of the long-term average annual volume of 241,400 ML.
Less water received than the previous year
Catchment inflow was lower than the previous year (389% of the long-term average).
Wastewater treatment plants
Water treated at wastewater treatment plants can be used to supplement water available in the basin. Water discharged to waterways from treatment plants is included as an inflow to the water balance.
Information on treatment plants is reported in the water supply local reports for the water corporation responsible for managing the plant.
In this basin, wastewater treatment plants are managed by Coliban Water, Central Highlands Water, and Lower Murray Water.
Outflows
Diversions
In 2023-24, 57,283 ML of water was diverted for consumptive uses: town, domestic and stock, irrigation and commercial supply. This was about the same as the 56,605 ML diverted in the previous year. An additional 1,134 ML of water was diverted for environmental purposes, more than the 717 ML diverted in the previous year.
Although the total volume diverted for consumptive use was similar to the previous year, the volume diverted for irrigation and commercial supply was higher than the previous year and there was an increase in the volume of water transferred to the Goulburn (through the Loddon supplement). There was also a decrease of 15,922 ML in the modelled small catchment dam use volume.
Small catchment dams
Water harvested, used and lost by small catchment dams (farm dams) is included in the water balance.
Table 3: Small catchment dams, Loddon basin
Entitlements and compliance
Entitlements provide the basis for how water is shared in the basin.
Entitlements to water in regulated systems in the Loddon basin provide for the right to carry over unused allocation to the next season. In the Loddon regulated system, these entitlement holders can carry over unused water up to 50% of their entitlement volume. Any unused water above this amount is written off.
Consumptive diversions under bulk entitlements are assessed against the Murray-Darling basin annual cap target for the Goulburn-Broken-Loddon Valley. Details of this assessment are published annually in the MDBA’s cap register and annual water take report.
Since 2019-20, the consumptive diversions are also assessed against the annual permitted takes under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) compliance reporting which are annually published in the MDBA’s SDL accounts register of take and the Inspector-General of Water Compliance’s SDL compliance statement.
Entitlement volumes
Rights to water in the Loddon basin are shown in Table 4.
Entitlement volumes represent a maximum volume of water that can be taken in a one-year period. The volume available in a particular year is dependent on the rules for allocating water set out in the entitlement and the seasonal conditions in that year, which can vary. The rules for allocating water under an entitlement differ between entitlements and systems. This affects the ability and likelihood of water being taken in a particular year.
Table 4: Annual entitlement volumes at 30 June, Loddon basin
Available water and take under entitlements
Total water available under entitlements represents the volume of water that was available to be taken by entitlement holders in 2023-24. The volume includes carryover from the previous year, seasonal allocations and net trade into the basin.
Water available under entitlements
While high-reliability entitlements received 100% (the same as last year), less water was available for low-reliability water shares.
Water taken under entitlements
There was 64,191 ML taken under entitlements in 2023-24, more than the previous year (55,817 ML).
Seasonal allocations
Loddon determinations:
- High-reliability entitlement allocations opened at 100% (earlier than the previous year).
- Low-reliability entitlements opened at 19% in October 2023 and reached a final allocation of 77% in February 2024, less than the previous year when they reached 100%. These water years are the only times that low-reliability water shares in the Loddon system have received an allocation since 2007.
Bullarook determinations:
- Both high and low-reliability entitlement allocations opened at 100% in July 2023 (one month earlier than the previous year).
Restrictions on licensed diversions from streams
- There were more restrictions on licensed diversions from streams in 2023-24, with a peak of 21 stream sections banned in March 2024, compared to a peak of 19 in March 2023.
- There were no restrictions on licensed diversions from 16 streams for the entirety of 2023-24.
Available water and take table
This table shows the volume of available water and the volume taken under entitlements in 2023-24.
More information on available water and take has been detailed in How we account for surface water.
In 2023-24, more was taken under entitlements than the previous year.
Table 5: Available water and take under entitlements, Loddon basin
Compliance
Compliance against water entitlements is reported for this basin in 3 areas:
- entitlement issued: that the volume of entitlements issued in a basin does not exceed formal caps, and has not increased without appropriate approvals
- water taken: that the volume of water taken during the year does not exceed the volume considered to be available for consumptive and/or in-stream use during that year
- bulk entitlement provisions: that holders of entitlements do not breach any provisions that are documented in their bulk entitlement orders.
Total entitlement volume
There was no net increase in the total entitlement volume from the previous year.
Total volume diverted
The total volume diverted under entitlements (64,191 ML) was within the volume available for the year (78,945 ML).
Individual bulk entitlements
No individual bulk entitlement holder took more than the annual volume made available to them.
Exceptions to compliance
Individual bulk entitlement holders complied with all provisions in their entitlements.
Water for the environment
Environmental watering sites
Environmental watering sites and environmental values in the Loddon basin that depend on water for the environment include:
- native fish species including golden perch, silver perch, Murray-Darling rainbowfish, river blackfish and Murray cod found in the Loddon River
- Serpentine Creek, which has a population of regionally significant river blackfish, supports small/medium bodied fish and a small population of platypus
- Birchs Creek, which contains native fish, including regionally significant populations of river blackfish and mountain galaxias, as well as flat-headed gudgeon and Australian smelt. Recent monitoring indicates that platypus are present throughout the entire creek
- water from the Loddon basin also flows into the Murray basin, helping to maintain internationally significant Ramsar-listed environmental assets including the Kerang Wetlands and Third Reedy Lake, which support over 150 flora species and over 50 waterbird species including the endangered freckled duck and little bittern.
Environmental water reserve
In 2023-24, water for the environment sourced from the Loddon basin comprised:
- the Bulk Entitlement (Loddon River - Environmental Water Reserve) Order 2005, which includes 3,480 ML of high-reliability, 2,024 ML of low-reliability and 7,490 ML of provisional-reliability entitlements, passing flows which can be flexibly managed, unregulated flows and river-freshening flows
- the Environmental Entitlement (Birch Creek - Bullarook System) 2009, which includes 100 ML of water in Newlyn Reservoir when high-reliability water shares are greater than 20% in the Bullarook system at the start of December
- 3,826 ML of high-reliability water shares and 527 ML of low-reliability water shares held for the environment
- water set aside for the environment through the operation of passing flow conditions:
- on consumptive bulk entitlements held by Central Highlands Water and Goulburn-Murray Water
- on licensed diversions
- all other water in the basin not allocated for consumptive uses: this water also provides social, recreational and cultural benefits.
Environmental water use
A total of 12,226 ML of environmental water was used in the Loddon basin in 2023-24: 1,134 ML of this was diverted off-stream (including 117 ML of unregulated flows), and the remaining 11,091 ML was delivered in-stream. 4,901 ML of the in-stream use was supplied from the Goulburn system to the Loddon River.
Management responsibilities
Management of water in the Loddon basin is undertaken by various parties
| Authority | Management responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Central Highlands Water |
|
| Coliban Water |
|
| Goulburn-Murray Water |
|
| Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water |
|
| Lower Murray Water |
|
| North Central Catchment Management Authority |
|
| Water supply system | 2022-23 (ML) | 2023-24 (ML) |
|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater system | 0 | 0 |
| Daylesford & Hepburn Springs System | 669 | 776 |
| Greater Ballarat system | 344 | 438 |
| Laanecoorie system | 187 | 153 |
| Maryborough System | 1,304 | 1,249 |
