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In this section you will find detailed information, including national overviews and state and regional level assessments, from the 2000-2002 National Land and Water Resources Audit theme assessments.
Water resources - Overview - Victoria
Basin & Surface Water Management Area: Latrobe River
Introduction
The Latrobe River Basin extends from the Strzelecki Ranges in the south to the Great Dividing Range in the north, and west to east from Warragul to Lakes Wellington and Victoria and the Gippsland Coast. The total area of the basin is approximately 4,676 km2 (2% of the State). The north-western part of the Basin is characterised by the steep valleys and forests of the Great Dividing Range, reaching elevations in excess of 1,400 m. The Latrobe Valley and the Gippsland Plains in the central part of the contains the Basin's agricultural land and urban centres.
The annual rainfall decreases with elevation with rainfall varying from over 1,500 mm in the mountains to the north, to 625 mm in the vicinity of Lake Wellington.
The principal tributaries of the Latrobe River are the Toorongo, Tanjil and Tyers Rivers from the northern highlands, the Moe River from the west, and the Morwell River from the Strzelecki Ranges in the south. The major storages in the Basin include Blue Rock Lake, Yallourn Storage, Hazelwood Pondage and Moondarra Reservoir.
The mean annual flow of the basin is 887,000 ML, which represents 4.4 % of the total runoff generated in the State.
While agriculture and timber production are important in the Basin, the dominant feature of land use is the mining of brown coal for major thermal power stations at Loy Yang, Hazelwood and Yallourn. Approximately 65% of the total diversion from the LaTrobe River is used for thermal power.
Average annual surface water use within the Basin is 194,100 ML; 24% irrigation use, 75% urban and industrial use and the remaining 1% rural use. Power generation is the largest user of water in the Basin making up 73% of the total urban/industrial surface water use. The APM paper mill at Maryvale is the next largest consumer of water for industrial purposes, drawing its supplies from Moondarra Reservoir.
(Note: The reported volume of water used represents the total water consumed within the basin. This estimate of water use does not account for the volume of reclaimed or returned water and does not include water that is allocated for use in other management areas).
Surface water imports from the Thomson- Macalister and Bunyip Basins account for 15% of the total annual surface water use, supplying 70% of the irrigation water use in the basin. There is no water exported from the basin.
Vital Statistics:
| Area: | 4,676 Km2 |
|---|---|
| Total storage volume: | 247,008 |
| Total surface water use: | 194,100 ML/yr |
| Development category: | MEDIUM DEVELOPMENT |
| Mean annual run-off: | 887,000 ML/yr |
A four-class classification system was developed to provide a simple method to communicate the status of the use and allocation of Australia's water resources in relation to sustainable water management.
It is important to recognise that adequately quantifying a sustainable flow regime or sustainable yield and consequent operating rules is a complex matter. State, Territory and scientific agencies continue to develop and apply methods and measures for determining sustainable flow regimes and sustainable yields.
This categorisation provides a general guide only. Please refer to the State and Territory Overview and Technical reports for detail on the analysis methods used.
| Category | Development status | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | <30% | Low development | |
| 2 | 30 - 70% | Moderate development | |
| 3 | 70 - 100% | Highly developed | |
| 4 | 100% | Overdeveloped |
* Water use as a percentage of sustainable flow regime (surface water) and sustainable yield (groundwater)
PLEASE NOTE:
Sustainable Yield:
While Victoria has a variety of programs under way aimed at identifying, improving and protecting environmental water requirements, the necessary investigations take considerable time and resources.
Given the short time frame of the Audit, it was necessary to make some broad assumptions, and use a variety of approaches, to derive estimates of the sustainable yield for surface water management areas (SWMAs) in Victoria. Consideration was given to environmental water requirements (known and likely), existing user rights, and related social and economic impacts. The reported allocations to the environment represent the water that can currently be maintained or made available in an attempt to meet environmental water requirements.
For surface water management areas in the southern part of Victoria where environmental values could potentially be threatened by further allocations, the sustainable yield was limited to the current allocation volume, pending the outcomes of further detailed investigations of environmental water requirements. The allocation volume was determined as the average diversion that would occur when all the current entitlements within the basin are fully taken up. In the case of the Latrobe River basin, the unallocated portion of Blue Rock Reservoir has also been included in the estimate of the sustainable yield as the current environmental flow provisions have been determined assuming that this unallocated yield will be taken up.
In the longer term, there may be further scope for freeing up additional water to improve environmental regimes by improving distribution and water use efficiencies (other options for improving environmental regimes will be considered as part of the Victorian River Health Strategy). In SWMAs where a significant portion of the available resource is committed to a downstream SWMA, there is also potential for trading of entitlements between the two SWMAs. This will result in a change to both the sustainable yield and the environmental allocation in both SWMAs. Trade out of a SWMA would decrease the sustainable yield of the SWMA and a trade of water rights into a SWMA would increase the sustainable yield. However, the sum of the sustainable yields for the two SWMAs would remain unchanged.
PLEASE NOTE:
Categorisation:
The categorisation of SWMAs in terms of the current level of water resource development has been determined with consideration given to the level of allocation and actual diversion of the resource relative to the assessed sustainable yield.
Five development categories have been defined:
Category 1: Low level of development: 0-30% Category 2: Medium level of development: 31-70% Category 3: High level of development: 71-99% Category 3*: Fully developed: 100% Category 4: Over allocated/used resource: >100%
The development category for the Latrobe River Basin has been reported as fully developed (Category 3*) with respect to allocation and as a medium level of development (Category 2) with respect to diversion. The 3* rating for allocation has been assigned, pending the outcomes of the Gippsland Lakes environmental study and infers that any further surface water-based development in the Basin can only be achieved via trading of entitlements (including the unallocated entitlement in Blue Rock Reservoir), via water savings achieved through improvements in distribution and water- use efficiency, or via use of alternative sources of water (e.g. reclaimed water).
How saline are the surface water resources in the Latrobe River surface water management area?
Table: Surface water resource by salinity class.
| Total Volume, Divertible Yield (ML/Yr) | |
|---|---|
| Total volume (ML/yr), DIVERSION | 486,560 |
| <500 mg/l (ML/yr) | 486,560 |
| 500 mg/l (ML/yr) - 1500 mg/l (ML/yr) | no data |
| 1500 mg/l (ML/yr) - 5000 mg/l (ML/yr) | no data |
| 5000 mg/l (ML/yr) - 14000 mg/l (ML/yr) | no data |
| > 14000 mg/l (ML/yr) | no data |
Major water storages
Table: Major water storage areas:
| Storage name: | Capacity (ML) |
|---|---|
| Lake Narracan | 7,995 |
| Main Storage Dam-Pine Gully | 448 |
| Moondarra Reservoir | 30,311 |
| Yarragon Storage | 64 |
| Blue Rock Reservoir | 208,190 |
| Total | 247,008 |
Further Information
- View the Victoria Water Resources Assessment 2000 Report
- View the Victoria Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report
- Link to data available for download on the:
- Surface Water Management Areas
- Data from the 1985 Review of Australia's Water Resources and Water Use
- Link to the Map Maker to make a map using this information.
- For more information about water and other natural resource issues link to www.dse.vic.gov.au