An environmental water entitlement is a legal right to a share of water available at a location (for example, Upper Yarra Reservoir), subject to rules and conditions.
There are also water entitlements for households, industry and irrigated farming.
Environmental water entitlements provide a right to water that can be managed to benefit the environment. The rules and conditions of each environmental entitlement determine how much water is available and when.
A bucket is a good metaphor for environmental water entitlements that provide a right to access water held in water storages.
The size of the bucket is determined by the entitlement volume, or the maximum amount of water that can be accessed annually. How the bucket is filled with water is determined by the rules and conditions of the entitlement.
In most cases, water available in the entitlement (bucket) varies from year to year depending on how much water is in storage and how much it has rained. The 'water available' is often referred to as 'water allocation'.
Generally, each entitlement (bucket) gets filled with water (allocation) as more water becomes available in storage.
In many systems, a water corporation (also known as a storage manager or a resource manager) progressively allocates water to entitlements throughout the year based on how much water is in storage. In a dry year, water allocated may be less than the total entitlement volume (the bucket does not fill). In a wet year, the full volume is likely to be allocated early (the bucket fills quickly), as the figure above illustrates.
Water allocation to an entitlement could be determined by a specified share of inflows or by other defined rules.
An entitlement may have a specified 'reliability', which indicates how consistently the entitlement (bucket) is filled and the priority order in which it is filled in any year. For example, in systems like the Murray, high-reliability entitlements are filled before and more frequently than low-reliability entitlements.
Some environmental water entitlements are not linked to a water storage and access to water is only permitted on an opportunistic basis (that is, when water is actually flowing in a river, rather than being captured in a storage). These entitlements—called unregulated entitlements—permit diversion of in-river flows above a certain height or rate, or flows that are in excess of what is needed to supply consumptive uses.
Environmental water entitlements are held in 15 water supply systems across Victoria.
We and other environmental water holders try to avoid water supply shortfalls by using environmental water efficiently and by carrying over and trading water.
If there are still shortfalls, we, in collaboration with waterway managers such as catchment management authorities and Melbourne Water (and other water holders if relevant) must prioritise where we water.
The Victorian Water Register has detailed information about entitlements.
Environmental water is available under environmental water entitlements held by us.
The water available to use under these entitlements varies from year to year, depending on entitlement rules, seasonal conditions (including rainfall and runoff in the catchments) and the water already available in storages.
Here are the environmental water entitlements held by us as at 31 March 2024.
Gippsland region
System | Entitlement | Volume (ML) | Class of entitlement |
|---|---|---|---|
Latrobe | Blue Rock Environmental Entitlement 2013 | 18,7371 | Share of inflow |
Latrobe River Environmental Entitlement 2011 | n/a2 | Unregulated | |
Thomson | Bulk Entitlement (Thomson River – Environment) Order 2005 | 10,000 8,0001 | High reliability Share of inflow |
Macalister | Macalister River Environmental Entitlement 2010 | 12,461 6,230 | High reliability Low reliability |
Snowy | Bulk Entitlement (River Murray – Snowy Environmental Reserve) Conversion Order 2004 | 29,794 | High reliability |
Bulk Entitlement (Goulburn System – Snowy Environmental Reserve) Order 2004 | 30,252 8,156 | High reliability Low reliability | |
Water shares | 23,462 24,275 | High reliability Low reliability |
Central region
System | Entitlement | Volume (ML) | Class of entitlement |
|---|---|---|---|
Yarra | Yarra Environmental Entitlement 2006 | 17,000 55 | High reliability Unregulated |
Tarago | Tarago and Bunyip Rivers Environmental Entitlement 2009 | 3,0001 | Share of inflow |
Werribee | Water shares | 734 361 | High reliability Low reliability |
Werribee River Environmental Entitlement 2011 | n/a1 | Share of inflow | |
Moorabool | Moorabool River Environmental Entitlement 2010 | 7,0861 | Share of inflow |
Barwon | Barwon River Environmental Entitlement 2011 | n/a2 | Unregulated |
| Upper Barwon River Environmental Entitlement 2018 | 2,0001 | Share of inflow |
Western region
System | Entitlement | Volume (ML) | Class of entitlement |
Wimmera and Glenelg | Wimmera and Glenelg Rivers Environmental Entitlement 2010 | 40,560 1,000 | High reliability Low reliability |
Northern region
System | Entitlement | Volume (ML) | Class of entitlement |
Victorian Murray | Bulk Entitlement (River Murray – Flora and Fauna) Conversion Order 1999 | 95,571 30,860 49,000 | High reliability Low reliability Unregulated |
9,589 101,850 34,300 | High reliability Low reliability Unregulated | ||
Environmental Entitlement (River Murray – NVIRP Stage 1) 2012 | 1,2072 | High reliability | |
River Murray – Mitigation Water Environmental Entitlement 2023 | 1,276 486 | High reliability Low reliability | |
Water shares | 12,267 | High reliability | |
Goulburn | Environmental Entitlement (Goulburn System – Living Murray) 2007 | 39,625 156,980 | High reliability Low reliability |
Environmental Entitlement (Goulburn System – NVIRP Stage 1) 2012 | 1,8913 | High reliability Low reliability | |
Goulburn River Environmental Entitlement 2010 | 24,992 5,792 | High reliability | |
Goulburn System – Mitigation Water Environmental Entitlement 2023 | 1,506 748 | High reliability Low reliability | |
Silver and Wallaby Creeks Environmental Entitlement 2006 | n/a | Passing flows | |
| Water Shares | 5,559 | High reliability | |
Broken | Water shares | 90 19 | High reliability Low reliability |
Campaspe | Campaspe River Environmental Entitlement 2013 | 20,855 4,394 | High reliability Low reliability |
Environmental Entitlement (Campaspe River – Living Murray Initiative) 2007 | 126 5,048 | High reliability Low reliability | |
Loddon | Bulk Entitlement (Loddon River – Environmental Reserve) Order 2005 | 11,798 2,024 | High reliability Low reliability |
Environmental Entitlement (Birch Creek – Bullarook System) 2009 | 100 | Provisional | |
Goulburn River Environmental Entitlement 2010 | 1,434 | High reliability |
1 Water is accumulated continuously according to a percentage share of inflows to these entitlements (i.e. the Blue Rock 9.45%, Thomson 3.9%, Tarago 10.3%, Werribee 10.0%, Moorabool 11.9% and upper Barwon River 3.8%). This volume represents the designated storage volume available to VEWH under the entitlement except for Werribee because the VEWH entitlement does not include a storage share in the Werribee system. The actual volume available in any year varies according to inflows.
2 Access to water under this entitlement is dependent on suitable river heights and there is no volumetric entitlement associated with the entitlement
3 This entitlement volume is the mitigation water savings from GMW Connections Project Stage 1, as verified in the 2022-23 audit
In response to declining river and wetland health due the amount of water being taken out and the construction of dams, weirs and channels, governments have invested significantly over the past two decades to recover water for the environment.
In Victoria, this has occurred largely through water-saving projects, such as improving the efficiency of delivering water to towns and farms. Some of the water savings from these projects are then converted into environmental water entitlements.
Environmental water entitlements are largely held by
State and Commonwealth government agencies often referred to as 'environmental
water holders'.
In Victoria this includes the Victorian Environmental Water Holder, the
Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority as
part of the Living Murray program.
The VEWH can receive water donations from individuals, community groups and other organisations to be used to water the environment:
The costs and benefits of each donor proposal is considered by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder and these donations may be authorised by us if they're considered environmentally beneficial.
Page last updated: 12/12/19