Strategy to safeguard northern water supplies

A 50-year water strategy will help safeguard water supplies for towns, farms and the environment in northern Victoria.

The Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy will see changes in seasonal allocation policies so that water is reserved for drought years. The strategy details 52 actions and 17 policies to manage the consequences of prolonged drought and climate change.

It is designed to improve the management of rivers, wetlands and flood plains with clear objectives for using environmental water and tools such as carryover, reusing return flows and structural works to make the best use of the environmental water available. It also recognises that increased use of ground water and a proliferation of domestic and stock dams in rural residential subdivisions has the potential to affect the security of supply for existing water users.

The strategy outlines measures to protect existing water users including:
- the registration of all new domestic and stock dams in rural residential subdivisions;
- guidelines to better define the size of dams for reasonable stock and domestic use; and
- improved monitoring to measure the growth in domestic and stock consumption.

The Northern Regional Sustainable Strategy is available here.