By Ann Marie Angebrandt
VEGETABLE prices are set to rise over the summer because of expected water restrictions for local farmers.
Southern Rural Water (SRW) has cut water rights to Werribee and Bacchus Marsh irrigators to 5 per cent beginning 1 July because of storages around Melbourne.
Clinton Rodda, SRW’s water supply general manager, said farmers would be given access to only the small percentage until storage volumes improved.
The current level of Melbourne’s four major water catchments is about 48 per cent.
John Menegazzo, manager of Fresh Select in Werribee South, said summer vegetable production would be seriously affected by the tight water supply.
“Production will be down everywhere and we’ll be in diabolical trouble unless that allocation is increased,” he said.
Werribee South’s 150 growers normally supply about three-quarters of Australia’s broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, and nearly all its lettuce during the early summer months.
“At this stage, it’s in the lap of the gods whether we get enough water to continue with normal production,” said Mr Menegazzo.
Mr Rodda said the allocation of water rights was determined on a week-by-week basis depending on rainfall.
“This time of the year, demand drops back anyway,” he said.
“If we get decent rainfalls in the coming months, we’ll be able to lift that level.”
The use of ground, or bore water, is also restricted to local farmers.
They are allowed only 25 per cent of their normal allocation, due to depleting water in the Deutgam aquifer.
At the end of last year, farmers were temporarily banned from tapping into the aquifer until it recharged.
The third source of water for Werribee South farmers is recycled water from Melbourne Water’s western treatment plant.
Mr Rodda said only about half the farmers had signed up for the irrigation scheme offered two years ago by the State Government.
Many are still concerned about the quality and safety of the recycled water on their crops.
