I am delighted to announce today three new water saving projects have secured funding under the Australian Government's $2 billion Water Fund.
Three water conservation initiatives in Victoria worth $546.5 million will receive $188 million from the Australian Government Water Fund.
The Australian Government's Water Fund has now provided $275 million to seven projects worth more than $800 million to help conserve and preserve the nation's precious water resources.
The Australian Government will provide a capped $167 million towards construction of 8,000km of Wimmera Mallee pipeline. The Victorian Government will also contribute $167 million as will the Victorian Water Authority and users as part of the joint project totaling $501 million over ten years to replace the channel system.
The century-old Wimmera Mallee stock and domestic water system, comprises more than 16,000km of open, earthen channels loses 85 per cent of water through evaporation and seepage. The system supplies more than 5500 farms and more than 40 towns across 10 per cent of Victoria.
More than 100,000 megalitres of water, the equivalent to water needed to fill
100,000 Olympic swimming pools, would potentially be saved every year as a result of overhauling Australia's most extensive domestic and stock supply water system.
This is a substantial and tangible step towards securing a high quality water supply to the region as well as significant water savings that will go a long way towards increasing environmental flows in rivers.
This sort of saving will benefit agriculture, tourism, recreation, industry, waterway and wetland health and economic development in the region.
The Australian and Victorian governments have agreed on review mechanisms to avoid cost overruns on the project. If the pipeline does go beyond the projected budget, the Victorian Government will pay for any cost overrun.
The Australian Government will invest $20 million to introduce state-of-the-art technology to control water flow in the Macalister irrigation district, resulting in savings of up to 30 000 megalitres of water a year.
The Australian Government will invest $1 million towards a $4.5 million project that will include investigating the elimination of treated effluent discharge into Bass Strait from Boags Rocks-Gunnamatta Beach outfall-by recycling water to the Latrobe Valley .
These three projects demonstrate the Australian Government's commitment to meeting our water challenges through cooperation among planners, managers and users at all levels.
They deliver on the Australian Government's commitment to improve water management as outlined in Securing Australia's Water Future at the last election.