An end to the drought in the Southern Murray Darling?

According to this article in The Australian, water allocations in the Southern Murray Darling Basin are the highest they have been in five years.

Allocations for irrigators along the South Australian Murray are 34 per cent - only a fraction of what is needed but much more than growers received last year at this time - with the likelihood of an increase.

Until the 2006 drought, irrigators along the Murray system were accustomed to getting 100 per cent of their water allocation - the amount on their water licence. But drought drastically reduced water in storage and most irrigators have not received full allocations for five years.

The interesting observation in the article from Tom Rooney, chief executive of Adelaide-based water trader Waterfind, is that increased allocations generally meant cheaper water prices and larger volumes traded.

This time last year, the price for temporary, or leased, water in the Murray system had gone as high as $476 a megalitre, or million litres. This week, the price was about $70 to $80/ML.

See the original article here.