Water Update – January 20192019-10-16T07:59:52+00:00
January 2019 Update
The last time Cubbie Station harvested any water was in April 2017. At that time Cubbie Station diverted 14 GL of the 156 GL that passed through St George. Over 2GL of Cubbie Station’s river entitlement was left in the river to assist downstream users.
In March 2018 there was a water harvesting event where Cubbie Station was authorised to divert 3GL. Cubbie Station voluntarily diverted NO water therefore leaving it all in the river system for downstream users.
The last time Cubbie diverted a meaningful amount of water was in September 2016 (when it diverted 78GL of the 386GL that passed through St George). This diversion followed a substantial wet period over eastern Australia, along with major flooding in various Murray Darling catchments.
Cubbie Station’s water rights are structured such that high flow flood events provide the majority of water diverted onto Cubbie Station. Cubbie Station’s average entitlement is 0.25 of 1% of the total average Murray flow.
At all times Cubbie has managed its water rights in compliance with its authorised water licenses, the Murray Darling Basin Plan and government policy. As described above, it has also taken the initiative around managing water for the benefit of downstream users.
No fertiliser or chemicals from Cubbie Station’s cotton farming ever enters the natural water courses as the irrigated farming area of Cubbie Station is fully bunded.
6GL of Environment, Stock and Domestic flow was released at St George from 25th December 2018 and ceased on 3rd January 2019. (NO water available for irrigation purposes.) Fortunately, this flow has reached Cubbie Station as domestic water levels at Cubbie Station were extremely low. In accordance to water resource rules the low flow has now passed through the Cubbie Station weir.
NO cotton or summer crops will be harvest at Cubbie Station in 2019.