Coliban Water storages are standing at 66 percent, despite a dry summer and autumn.
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Bendigo has received just 93.0 millimetres to date in 2018. The long term average to June is 229.5 millimetres.
Coliban’s water storages are currently sitting at 144 millimetres, 19 millimetres less than the average.
Read more: Warm dry weather likely in winter outlook
Coliban Water’s catchment covers 49 towns in the region, including Bendigo. It extends to the Murray, the Campaspe and the Avoca Rivers.
The catchment’s storages are in a strong position going into winter, Chief Operating Officer Neville Pearce said.
Winter and spring is when the catchment receives most of its annual inflow.
Currently the three catchment storages hold a total volume of 46,000 megalitres. The organisation aims to have a two year supply of water in storage, and maintain this for dry times.
However, if rainfall levels remain low, storage levels will decline, Mr Pearce said. In this case, the catchment will source water from Lake Eppalock and the Goulburn System.
“Winter and spring is when we receive 90-95 per cent of our annual inflows,” said Neville Pearce, Chief Operating Officer of Coliban Water.
“Our cumulative median rainfall for winter is around 266 millimetres and our cumulative median inflows is 22,000 megalitres.
“Whilst we have experienced less than median inflows, we manage our storages to plan for the long-term supply to customers.”
Read more: Optimism despite dry seasonal outlook
Coliban Water anticipates that the rural allocation will open at 100 percent for the 2018/19 rural seasons. The season allocation will be announced on July 2.
The permanent water saving rules which currently apply to all residential customers in the Coliban Water region are likely to remain in place next summer, Mr Pearce said.