Legally recognised, secure entitlement to a defined share of water.

Water shares are classed by their reliability, which is defined by how often full seasonal allocations are expected to be available.

Allocations are made to high-reliability water shares before low-reliability shares.

An assessment of the groundwater resource that has to be done before a new licence is issued or a licence transfer is approved.

A fixed charge that applies for each megalitre of delivery share.

The infrastructure access fee contributes to the costs of providing the irrigation infrastructure network, eg channels, pipes, automated gates.

A geographic area with defined boundaries where water is distributed using pipes and channels owned and operated by a water corporation.

Operate in the Goulburn Broken, North Central, Mallee and North East catchments of northern Victoria to maintain standards for sustainable irrigation development.

They support landholders and authorities to meet irrigation planning and licensing requirements.

The guidelines are triggered by certain situations involving applications for water-use licences or variations to existing licences, and applications for works licences for irrigation.

A legal entity declared under the Water Act 1989. This gives rural water corporations rights and responsibilities to supply water by channels and pipelines mainly for irrigation purposes.

The Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District is a large district across northern Victoria that includes irrigation areas like Shepparton and Central Goulburn.

Robinvale, Red Cliffs, Merbein and Mildura irrigation districts combine to form the Sunraysia irrigation area.

The Macalister Irrigation District is the largest irrigation area south of the Great Dividing Range in central Gippsland.

See season

Generally, a shorthand way of referring to a take and use licence.

This can be confusing, as there are other types of licences – for example, works licences and water-use licences, which are very different entitlements. To avoid confusion, it is better not to use this term by itself.

The volume in megalitres that may be taken under a take and use licence, so long as there are no allocation trades against this take and use licence.

The volume in megalitres that may be taken under a take and use licence, that has been decreased or increased if the licence holder has sold or bought some water allocation.

The transfer of a right to future allocations under a water share for a limited period to the owner or occupier of land specified in a water-use licence or registration.

This is also referred to as a lease.

Local management plans or rules are developed and signed off by rural water corporations, as a delegate of the Minister for Water.

A local management plan or local management rules are for an area with a Permissible Consumptive Volume and include appropriate tools such as trading rules, triggers for restrictions and monitoring requirements.

An announcement made by the resource manager for northern Victoria that there is a low risk of a spill occurring from dams.

The resource manager looks at volumes in the dams, likely inflows and expected releases.
If the risk of the dams spilling later in the season is more than 10 per cent, a declaration is not made.

A low-risk-of-spill declaration is made as soon as the risk is less than 10 per cent.

The low risk of spill declaration makes carryover water in a spillable water account available for use or trade.

This is different from a spill announcement.

A water share with a relatively low reliability of supply.

On all northern Victorian systems except the Broken and Ovens, these will be shares of the available water once there is enough water to meet higher-reliability water shares in the current year, and, with minimum inflows, to meet higher-reliability water shares in the following year.

A river that is used to deliver irrigation water.

A licence where you can extract water, but have to put it all back, for example power generation.

When a water share is not linked to any land (ie it is not linked to a water-use licence or registration), it is recorded in the ‘non water user limit’ delivery system.

A person who uses the land but does not own it.

The occupier can hold licences over the land with the owner’s permission and can apply water to the land.

A type of works licence that allows the operation of any works on a waterway (usually a pump), or a bore, or a dam.

In unbundled systems, this is now called a water share transfer or limited term transfer of a water share.

In bundled systems, this refers to permanent trade of a take and use licence.