TAMWORTH irrigators are bracing for a drop in water allocations as the hot and dry conditions continue to scorch the region.
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The water-users aren’t sure what to expect when next allocation determinations roll in late June, but on the back of a difficult season, hopes have been all but dashed for 100 per cent allocations to continue.
Dungowan irrigator Ildu Monticone said the industry had felt the squeeze but there was still one thing in its favour during this dry-run.
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“It’s not been easy, the only thing in our favour is having water in the dam,” Mr Monticone said.
“When it’s been dry before, there’s been no water in the dam.
“That doesn’t make it easy, you’ve got to use a lot of water to get results.”
He said without decent rain between now and July, there was “no way” the Peel Valley’s users would retain the 100 per cent allocation of their access licences.
Mr Monticone said there had been a “huge demand for hay” this year, but there hasn’t been enough supply to keep-up with needs.
“With the dry conditions, there’s barely any feed about,” he said.
“You drive around and there’s no paddocks with cattle in lush feed.”
Fellow Peel Valley irrigator Tom Woolaston said he’d make use of what water he could, before the end of the financial year.
“It’s been this dry before and it will be this dry again,” Mr Woolaston said.
He didn’t know what to expect when the allocations were determined, be he had one certainty.
“It will be less,” he said.
“You just have to work to the rules.”
According to Weatherzone, Tamworth’s top temperatures in April have been 6.4 degrees higher than the long-term average.
The mercury climbed to 33.1 degrees on Tuesday which was just 0.2 degrees below Tamworth’s record hottest April day, which was set in 2016.
Tamworth is yet to record any rainfall in April and the last downpour the city saw was on March 26 when the rain gauges caught a miserly 1.6mm.
The top temperature is tipped to fall below 30 degrees on Saturday for the first time this month.
Chaffey Dam was listed at 67.4 per cent capacity on Thursday.