Irrigation upgrades saving water

Independent auditor's reports affirm water is being saved through irrigation upgrades already.

Water saved through irrigation modernisation works in northern Victoria will provide the bulk of the water to flow through the Sugarloaf Pipeline to Melbourne this year.

Savings from upgrades will provide around 45 billion litres of the 75 billion to flow to Melbourne.

The first independent water savings audit, released last week, verified that the Food Bowl project works installed by the end of the 2008-09 irrigation season in May last year had the potential to generate 28 billion litres of water savings in an average irrigation year.

It is expected around 40 billion litres of water will be saved during the current irrigation season, which finishes in May.

Water Minister Tim Holding said that record investment in irrigation upgrades in northern Victoria is seeing tens of billions of litres of water saved.

"Just over 10 per cent of the $2 billion Food Bowl Modernisation Project has been undertaken, and when complete we expect to save around 425 billion litres of water a year on average.

"More than 80 per cent of the water will stay in regional Victoria to be shared between farmers and stressed rivers."

Find out more about the first independent audit of water savings.