G-MW resource manager Graeme Hannan said the eight per cent allocation was due to continuing good inflows into the Murray and Goulburn catchments.

Goulburn system irrigators received a three per cent allocation, taking them to 33 per cent, but low inflows into the Broken, Campaspe, Loddon and Bullarook systems again saw irrigators in come up dry. They have had no allocation since the 2006-07 season.

The NSW Office of Water announced yesterday that general-security allocations for Murray irrigators would inrease by four per cent, to five per cent of entitlement, after good rainfall across the Murray and Snowy Mountains catchments. Murrumbidgee general-security irrigators – most of them rice growers – are also on a five per cent allocation, after a one per cent increase yesterday.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Friday’s Sunraysia Daily 16/10/2009.