CICL Update - The Main Channel April 2026
Dear Customers,
This newsletter provides Customers with an update on key water issues affecting CICL and its Customers’ businesses.
In this month's newsletter -
DCCEEW Allocation
Department of Climate Change Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)
Allocation announcements
01/04/2026
High Security 95%
General Security 32%
Groundwater 100%
(Lower Murrumbidgee)
2025-26 CICL announcement and offers
Member benefit 10%
Additional water offer 7%
Water allocation update –NSW DCCEEW released a water allocation update on Wednesday 1 April 2026. It is here. The next allocation announcement is expected on Tuesday 15th April 2026 at 2.30pm.
Available Water Determinations
The Department of Climate Change Energy the Environment and Water (the Department) are responsible for making available water determinations (AWDs). The next AWD is due on Friday 15 April. At our recent customer meeting, we emphasised the importance of reading the notes in the AWD statement as these provide details of the factors influencing the determination. We also discussed the value of reading details for the indicative outlook for 2026/27. The April 1 AWD indicated the Murrumbidgee had 166GL of the current estimate of 191GL of reserve needed to fully meet high priority needs for the next water year set aside. The Department is progressively reviewing this figure as the 2026/27 contribution from Snowy Hydro becomes more certain.
Waterways
T: 1300 850 105
Inter-valley trade (IVT)
Up-to-date information on the IVT is here.
You can register for WaterNSW IVT alerts here.
Office Closure on Anzac Weekend Monday 27 April.
Waterways staff can be contacted on M: 0427 544 269
Operations update - End of season
The irrigation season is coming to an end. CICL will soon notify customers of the planned timing of draining the supply system ahead of the annual winter works program.
We recently requested all customers to send in their winter crop details. This will give our team an indication of water demand for the remainder of the season, which is critical for helping our team determine a suitable shutdown date.
Ahead of the shutdown, the planned date will be shared with customers, along with a reminder that any deliveries after this date cannot be guaranteed; our team will continue to process orders, and delivery will be subject to availability at outlets.
Contact Water Operations to report any supply or ordering issues:
Business hours: (02) 6954 4003
After hours: 0427 544 269
End of Season Water Trading Dates and SFU Water Balancing Dates
End of Season Water Trading Dates
WaterNSW are yet to announce their end of season water trading close dates for the current season and CICL will advise customers when these dates known.
Single Farming Unit (SFU) End of Season
Prior to the end of a water season, SFU’s are required to transfer any annual allocation remaining within the SFU to cover any negative individual farm water allocation accounts. SFU’s may also wish to optimise carryover with end of water season balancing. Under current Water market Reforms, there are new limits to the assistance CICL can provide SFU customers. More information and a new SFU end of season account form to come.
Customer meeting Update held 26th March 2026
At a CICL update held at the Coly Club on 26 March, customers were updated on:
Water market reforms, and the increased obligations on trade information.
CICL’s new water market decisions reporting requirements commencing on 1 July 2026
Trade reporting requirements to the BOM which will now begin on 1 July 2027.
CICL’s program of capital and maintenance works for the winter period, to meet future needs.
2026 offtake closure – customers’ end-of-season requirements are now being assessed
Update to Waterways system – customers are encouraged to participate in this month’s trial Please contact Ali via reception.
Office Refurbishment Update
CICL has applied for NSW Sustainable Communities funding to support refurbishment of our Head Office building. The application has not yet been approved, with a decision expected later in the year.
The office is almost 50 years old and requires significant refurbishment to address issues including a leaking roof, non‑compliant areas and an outdated layout that is no longer fit for purpose. An assessment by our architects and quantity surveyors has determined that refurbishment is significantly less costly than a full rebuild. Importantly, this project will not impact member pricing.
Basin Plan Review
CICL was pleased to host the senior team from MDBA at our Coleambally office as part of the Basin Plan Review consultation process. Having a seat at the table is critical as we continue to advocate for our local community and the contribution of irrigated agriculture. Seen below is L-R CEO Julian Speed, MDBA CEO Andrew McConville and CICL Chairman Craig Perkins.
Submissions close 1 May 2026.
The Murray Darling Basin is being reviewed with the MDBA releasing its discussion paper in February with submissions due on Friday 1 May. The discussion paper and submission process can be found on the MDBA website.
The MDBA has pivoted away from “water recovery” being the key method for achieving improved environmental outcomes, which is a welcome change.
We encourage customers to make a submission to the MDBA emphasising what is important to you - your family and farm business and community.
Key points we believe are important to make is the current Basin Plan water recovery is enough; there should be no more water recovery from the consumptive pool by any means.
Governments and communities need to invest in actions to improve use of the held environmental water, better land management, and actions to achieve better outcomes for fish.
The productive sector needs stability in government water policy settings to encourage ongoing investment in innovation and productivity, which is so important as we face an uncertain world.
We are preparing a submission which will have a “Murrumbidgee” focus and supporting the National Irrigators’ Council and NSWIC submissions. Our submission will raise the importance of governments finding a solution to the unfinished aspects of Basin Plan 1.0 which does not lower the Sustainable Diversion Limit and well as the next steps for Basin Plan 2.0.
Staff News
We’re pleased to welcome two new team members Rowan Lyell and Tom Mannes.
In his new role, Tom will be working closely with Jenny McLeod to ensure our ongoing compliance with Commonwealth and state Water Reforms. Tom shared that he’s “excited to get more involved in work that benefits our community and ensure our irrigation region’s voice is strongly represented at water forums.”
We also welcome Rowan as our newest Maintenance Officer—he’s looking forward to learning new skills and being part of the team that maintains the irrigation structures that keep our community running. Great to have you both on board!
NOW HIRING - CIVIL ENGINEER
CICL is currently seeking a full-time Civil Engineer to work with our Operations team.
We welcome our members’ support in sharing this opportunity with anyone who may be interested or suitable for the role.
More information can be found on our website Careers — Coleambally Irrigation
IC's Regulatory Improvement program
NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is implementing the Irrigation Corporation Regulatory Improvement Program. All five statutory Irrigation Corporations will be covered. The program will see CICL meet increased requirements including more reporting as well as increased fees for DCCEEW from 1 July.
Customer facing policies about entry to land, disputes, payments, metering and disconnection are being developed. All changes will be communicated to customers and will be available on the website.
As part of these new compliance requirements, Coleambally Irrigation will become a member of the Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON). This will provide customers with access to a free, independent external dispute resolution service should the need arise. CICL’s EWON membership begins on 1 July.
In February we were pleased to host representatives from EWON demonstrating our river off-take and metering processes. The visit offered a practical insight into how we manage water delivery, measurement and system efficiency across our operations
Pictured: Left Hayley Gill, Linda Scott - EWON, Rossa Krilic – Deputy Ombudsman, Vanessa Clark – CICL Chief Operating Officer and Steve Oosthuysen – CICL Senior Project Engineer
IPART draft WaterNSW determination
IPART has released its draft determination for WaterNSW charges from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2029. For Murrumbidgee general security IPART is recommending annualis-ed increase of 8.5 percent per water entitlement and an annualised increase of 8.4 percent in usage charges. We asked IPART to maintain WaterNSW charges to CPI only increases.
One positive is, if WaterNSW control its costs to IPART’s assessment of its efficient costs the Murrumbidgee will be at full cost recovery of the “user share” by 2029. IPART also retained valley-based pricing, fixed and variable pricing and the Irrigation Corporation Rebates.
In relation to cost shares between government and water users IPART have made some changes which have increased the government contribution, but not to the extent we had argued for. IPART recognise further work is required on cost shares.
Submissions are due on Monday 11 May and can be found on the IPART website, along with the draft determination.
Farrer By-Election Visits
The Farrer By-Election is bringing a focus to the importance of “water.” We were pleased to host the Leader of the National Party Senator the Hon. Matt Canavan, Shadow Water Minister the Hon Michael McCormack, Tony Pasin, Member for Barker and Shadow Minister for Scrutiny of Government Waste, Shadow Minister for assisting Fisheries and Forestry along with the Nationals Candidate Brad Robertson and the Liberal Candidate Raissa Butkoswki.
This was an opportunity to recognise the importance of irrigated agriculture to the Coleambally community and of course our world class, efficient irrigation supply service. We spoke about the need for government water policy to shift from a volumetric water target and just adding water to outcomes. Our member directors emphasised the need to end constant water reforms to provide stability and water security to farmers and communities.
Independent Candidate Michelle Milthorpe also visited our office this week. We explained the role of CICL and highlighted the need for the current Government to shift its focus from water recovery, and to minimise any reductions in water reliability.
CCS Irrigation Excursion
Pictured: Keith Thompson shared his expertise recently with CCS School students who visited the channels to learn how water quality testing is carried out. This supported their study of local landforms and how they are managed in our region.
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We’d love to see what’s happening on your farm—send through your photos and we might feature them in an upcoming newsletter!
