The good oil on Circular Head Irrigation Scheme water – don’t delay
Tasmanian Irrigation is holding a series of information days throughout Circular Head over the next three weeks to ensure local farmers have every opportunity of taking advantage of its new $60 million irrigation scheme for the district.
The scheme is expected to be operational for the 2017/18 irrigating season and will provide 21,400 megalitres (ML) to farms at Togari, Woolnorth, Montagu, Edith Creek, Roger River, Mella, Forest and Irishtown.
The scheme uses water from Arthur River to augment flows in the Welcome, Montagu and Duck rivers as well as piped water.
Water sales opened last Thursday at a price of $1200/ML and demand appears strong.
In a bid to make sure all farmers are aware of the opportunities, TI held a workshop at Smithton on Monday (Nov 17) and information days at Togari, Forest and at the Circular Head Show at Stanley are to follow. There will be follow up sessions with individual farmers following the information days.
The period for local water sales closes on December 10. If there is spare capacity, water rights will then be offered to outside investors.
Project manager Paul Ellery said it was imperative that those who wanted water commit immediately as anyone buying outside the time allocated to local irrigators could be disappointed.
“I know there is a Tasmanian habit of waiting until the last minute, but if you delay on this one, you might miss out,” Mr Ellery said.
“We know there is a lot of interest out there.”
Contact
Paul Ellery
0427 053 807