Murray Darling Basin water prices shoot up 180 per cent last year on temporary trading market; National decline in water storage levels

Water prices shot up by 180 per cent last year on the temporary trading market as irrigators scrambled to top up supplies, reported The Age (31/7/2007, p.2).

24 per cent decrease in trade-water volume; significant storage decline in south Murray Darling: While the number of temporary trades between farmers rose by 60 per cent in the 2006/07 financial year, there was a 24 per cent decrease in the volume of water traded. Waterfind, a national water broking company, found there was a national decline in storages, with water supplies falling from 54 per cent of capacity in July 2006 to 39 per cent in June 2007. The most significant declines in storage were in the southern Murray Darling Basin, where stores fell from 37 per cent to 13 per cent.

The Age, 31/7/2007, p. 2