From Eildon releases, water treatment plant failures and sandbagging efforts — here’s what you need to know about flooding in the region as of Tuesday, January 16.
The Peter Ross-Edwards Causeway was officially reinstated to an 80km/h zone as of Tuesday, January 16, by VicRoads.
Rain is expected across the catchment in the following days, and as such, Goulburn-Murray Water has started decreasing its releases from Lake Eildon to limit the impact the rainfall has downstream.
At 10am on Tuesday, January 16, G-MW started decreasing its releases at Eildon from 7500Ml per day to 6500Ml per day.
The recent releases from Eildon have meant the storage is currently about 36,000Ml below the full supply level.
The 48-hour conserve water period for water usage in the Shepparton area ended on Tuesday morning.
Goulburn Valley Water announced that its water treatment plant in Shepparton is operating normally, and storage is back up to full again.
GV Water incident controller Steve Nash said water remains safe to drink; however, residents might notice a different taste in the water.
“While the raw water quality is improving, we are still seeing really high levels of discolouration (about 10 times higher than normal) in the supply from the Goulburn River, so it means we need to adapt the treatment process,” Mr Nash said.
“Some customers may be noticing a change in the taste of their water as a result. This is only temporary and will return to normal as the raw water quality continues to improve.”
The Shepparton water treatment plant includes customers in Shepparton, Mooroopna, Kialla, Congupna, Tallygaroopna, Toolamba, Orrvale and Ardmona.
Greater Shepparton City Council has released sandbagging numbers around the region.
Approximately 7000 sandbags were sent to Toolamba, Undera and Murchison, with only 4000 used by residents.
Around 2000 sandbags were taken by residents from the Shepparton Showgrounds, and none were taken from Ardmona.
This has left council with around 4000 pre-filled sandbags left over to be stored away.