Lake Eppalock business owners raised concerns about how much water would be let in and out of the lake, now it is 59.51 per cent full.

Goulburn Murray Water’s latest figures show the lake’s capacity has nearly doubled in six days, increasing from 33.3 per cent last Friday.

Coliban Water has 18 per cent of the lake’s capacity.

Mr Hanlon said Coliban Water would assess water storages monthly.

“We’ll take water where it is most optimal to do so,’’ he said.

“It’s smart to keep water in Eppalock and maintain suppy in reserve.’’

Mr Hanlon said the water authority would not be piping any water into Eppalock, a decision that would be reviewed in November.

He said increasing storages and easing restrictions was a balancing act for Coliban Water.

“We want to take a considered approach to allocating water and plan for the long term,’’ he said.

Mr Hanlon said there had been 44,000 megalitres of inflows this year, which was still below the average of 66,000 megalitres.

Coliban Water is expected to announce changes to water restrictions next Wednesday.

Mr Hanlon said research showed one in three customers did not want water restrictions eased but Coliban Water had to weigh up a conservative approach against rising storage levels, which sit at 78.4 per cent.

He said even if water restrictions were eased people’s approach to conserving water had changed forever because of the drought.