The Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced Commonwealth Government support worth nearly $1 billion to help support the Murray River and provide more water for farmers in northern Victoria.
The announcement is part of an historic agreement reached between the Commonwealth and the Victorian Government to upgrade old and leaky irrigation systems in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District, some of which are more than 80 years old.
The Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project Stage 2 agreement will see more than 7,600 irrigation properties in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District benefit from more reliable and efficient delivery of water.
This is a once in a generation investment in water efficiency that will provide greater water security for farmers whilst protecting the environment, including the Murray River.
The Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District loses on average, 800 billion litres of water through evaporation, seepage, leakage and system inefficiencies. Even over the last 15 years of drought, losses have averaged more than 700 billion litres.
This project will help save 200 billion litres of water on average each year, to be shared equally between farmers and the environment.
This will significantly reduce the water losses in the irrigation system which will allow for rapid delivery of water where and when irrigators need it most.
The Commonwealth Government will contribute up to $952.8 million towards Stage 2 of the Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP).
Victoria is investing $1 billion in Stage 1 of the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project and Victoria will contribute 10 per cent of funding towards Stage 2 of the project with the timing and nature of this contribution to be negotiated with the Commonwealth.
Once both stages of NVIRP are complete by 2017/18, water savings are expected to total an average of 425 billion litres per year.
The Victorian Premier John Brumby welcomed the Gillard Labor Government's commitment and said it would help to lock-in a prosperous, sustainable future for farming families.
"We know how important it is to keep our farmers ahead of the game and that's why we have been making generational investments in upgrading our Food Bowl irrigation system," Mr Brumby said.
"This investment by the Gillard Government will back our farmers with a world-class irrigation system, keep our rivers healthy and means more water for our rivers and wetlands for generations to come."
Stage 2 water savings for the environment will form part of Commonwealth Government's program to help restore the Murray-Darling Basin's ecological health while minimising the socio-economic impacts on regional communities.
These water savings will contribute to meeting the new Sustainable Diversion Limits under the final Murray Darling Basin Plan, and will complement the Government water buyback program.
Today's announcement gives the green light to the NVIRP Stage 2, which had in-principle support under the 2008 Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform.
This approval follows a detailed due diligence assessment and is subject to the agreement of final contract details.
This project is funded through the Commonwealth's $5.8 billion Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure program under the Water for the Future initiative.