WATER USE CUT

THE State Government has slashed by thousands of megalitres the amount of water that can be extracted from the Otways.

Minister for Water Lisa Neville yesterday reduced the limit on how much water can be taken from the Gerangamete Groundwater Management Area (GMA) from 20,000 megalitres per year to just 239 megalitres per year.

The limit on taking water from the neighbouring Gellibrand GMA, that shares a common recharge area with Gerangamete GMA, has been set at zero. The State Government hopes limiting the groundwater extraction will secure Geelong’s water supply and protect the environment.

Ms Neville said reducing the extraction limit at Gerangamete was a “common sense move that will allow the groundwater resource and its surrounding areas to recover from the impacts of past extraction”.

“Healthy waterways mean healthy communities, and we’re keeping the water flowing to greater Geelong in a sustainable way that ensures the natural environment is protected,” she said. “This builds on critical remediation works we’ve required Barwon Water to carry out to improve the health of these catchments and their ecosystems.”

In 2018, Ms Neville ordered a review of the Gerangamete PCV and demanded Barwon Water commence remediation works to improve and protect the health of Boundary Creek, Big Swamp and the surrounding environments.

Through Southern Rural Water, she requested Barwon Water and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to prepare a legally enforceable remediation plan to improve key waterways impacted by past groundwater extraction that affected pH conditions in Boundary Creek.

Three farmers with access to the groundwater will not be impacted by the reduction as the limit for the Gerangamete GMA will cover the total volume of these existing licenses.