Irrigators in the southern Murray Darling Basin have been invited to submit offers under a new $120 million water purchasing tender, opening in early May.

The Minister for Water, Senator Penny Wong, said this would be the third water tender for 2010, with the previous tenders in January and March attracting considerable interest from irrigators looking to sell their water entitlements.

“Across the Murray Darling Basin, the challenges posed by drought and climate change have been compounded by decades of mismanagement,” Senator Wong said.

“For too long we have taken too much water out of the Basin’s rivers.

“The best way to improve the health of the Basin’s rivers is by reducing how much water we take from them, which is why we are purchasing water entitlements from irrigators across the Basin.

"By purchasing water and investing in irrigation infrastructure upgrades, the Rudd Government is also helping our irrigating communities prepare for the new, lower limits on water use that we can expect under the Basin Plan.”

The third tender round will commence on Monday 3 May 2010 and close on Friday 21 May 2010. 

The tender round will be funded from $270 million in new water purchasing initiatives in the southern Murray Darling Basin, announced in December 2009. This funding is for water purchasing in the 2009-10 water year.

Sell offers in the May tender round will be considered only from the Murray, Goulburn, Campaspe and Loddon catchments in Victoria, and the South Australian portion of the Murray-Darling Basin.

Sell offers for NSW entitlements will not be considered in the May tender, as the 60 GL limit on purchases from NSW was reached in the first two southern Basin tenders.

Any water entitlements purchased in the May tender will add to the 799 billion litres of entitlements – worth nearly $1.3 billion – already secured for the Basin’s rivers, wetlands and floodplains.

Program Guidelines and application forms for the May tender round can be obtained by visiting www.environment.gov.au/waterpurchasing, or calling 1800 218 478 closer to the opening of the tender.

Applications cannot be submitted earlier than Monday 3 May 2010.