Executive general manager strategy Jarrah O’Shea said levels in Coliban Water’s storages near Kyneton, as well as the Coliban share of Lake Eppalock, were at more than 100 per cent — after 50,528 megalitres flowed into the storages.
“La Nina conditions continue to impact our region, positively by providing us with security of supply, and negatively by causing flooding in parts of our region and contributing to challenges in our sewer network,” Mr O’Shea said.
“Spring rainfall at Malmsbury Reservoir was 486mm, which is more than 2.5 times greater than the average for spring rainfall, resulting in almost 97 gigalitres of inflow to our reservoirs on the Coliban River.
“This inflow is more than 6.5 times the median spring inflow.
“We are holding 5000 megalitres more in storage than we were for the same time last year.
“If our storages were empty at the start of October, they would have now filled to 73 per cent capacity.
“We received 100 per cent allocation for our surface water entitlements in the regulated Goulburn, Murray, Campaspe and Loddon systems managed by Goulburn-Murray Water, and in the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline, managed by Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water.”
Ongoing wet conditions have caused significant impact across the region, with many towns remaining flooded and on alert, while in others the recovery process has begun.
While there is strong water availability, the water quality is poor in many parts of the region as a result of flooding and our treatment plant operations teams are working hard to manage this for customers.
Coliban Water teams continue to work through the impacts to sewer and water services throughout the region.
“Our Incident Team has been working around the clock since the beginning of October, ensuring that our sewer and water networks are repaired, cleaned and fully operational,” Mr O’Shea said.
“Our intention is to build back better, and where feasible and cost-effective, to ensure climate resilience and better outcomes for our communities. Our teams are investigating what this means for each town.”
Coliban Water has launched a Recovery and Rebuild website outlining the work being done as well as what’s planned for impacted towns.
