First Independent Audit of Water Savings
The first independent audit of water savings for the $2 billion Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP) has been completed.
The audit was undertaken by an independent consulting firm from Queensland, Cardno Pty Ltd.
The audit confirmed that upgrading ageing irrigation infrastructure in northern Victoria would save billions of litres of water.
The independent auditor, Cardno, verified that the NVIRP modernisation works that had been installed by the end of the 2008-09 irrigation season in May 2009, had the potential to generate 28 billion litres of water savings in an average irrigation year.
Cardno also audited water savings for the Central Goulburn 1234 project and the Shepparton Irrigation Modernisation Project.
In these early stages of the modernisation program, the volume of savings depends on the number of assets installed and commissioned, and the volume of deliveries made using these assets.
The audit confirmed that the actual water saved from NVIRP, Central Goulburn and Shepparton works between March 2009 and May 2009 totalled almost seven billion litres.
Savings made prior to March 2009 were used to support irrigation allocations.