Concerned farmers and residents at Corop (back, from left) Mark Hill, Paul Taylor, Andrew Freeman, Sheree Freeman, Hugh Freeman and Jed Freeman, (front) Grace and Annabel Taylor. Behind them is Greens Lake, the grain crops at risk and the decommissioned pump station.
Farmers downstream of Greens Lake fear they could be flooded by water diverted from a major irrigation channel to spare other downstream communities.
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Goulburn-Murray Water has been spilling water from the Waranga Western Channel into Lake Cooper and Greens Lake to ease pressure off flooding downstream.
The two Corop lakes are not formal storages, and the Greens Lake pumps — which once extracted water from the lake — have been decommissioned.
Overflow water from Lake Cooper spills into Greens Lake through a connecting channel.
Farmers are worried that with the additional water, which has now filled Lake Cooper, any more overland, natural flows into Greens Lake could create a flood which would damage their grain crops.
Some have already recorded large losses due to the heavy October rain.
“If it’s local floodwater then you wear it. But we do object to a man-made flood,” cropping farmer Mark Hill said.
Greens Lake is holding more water than it has seen in recent years.
Mr Hill and fellow cropper Andrew Freeman have been in contact with G-MW but have been unsatisfied with responses to their concerns.
Sheree Freeman said if G-MW was diverting water into a storage like Greens Lake, there should be a means of removing it.
G-MW emergency controller Peter Clydesdale confirmed water was not usually diverted to Greens Lake and Lake Cooper, as neither lake provided benefits to entitlement holders.
“However, diverting water to the lakes during the recent rainfall events has helped mitigate floods in various townships,” Mr Clydesdale said.
“We are no longer diverting water into Greens Lake and Lake Cooper, ensuring they have some room for natural inflows.
“Lake Cooper is full and Greens Lake is still about 5000 megalitres from full supply level.
“Decisions on when to divert water into Greens Lake and Lake Cooper have been based on several factors, including the capacity of the storages, conditions downstream of the lakes, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast.”
The farmers are also concerned they weren’t consulted when G-MW decided to divert the water into the lakes.
Lake Cooper is now full.
Storage figures show Greens Lake now holds more water than it has held in more than 10 years.
Mrs Freeman said if there was another big rain event this year, or if next year there was a normal winter-spring season, their property north of the lake would flood.
She said Greens Lake flooded in 1973-74, inundating property for six months, and again in October 1993.
“Our problem is that the operating procedures of Greens Lake is currently contra to their current listed policy of allowing the lake to remain in its natural state where water flows between the natural existing swamps and lakes.”
Mr and Mrs Freeman raised their concerns with Victorian Water Minister Harriett Shing in a flood meeting at Rochester on Friday.
Lake Cooper currently has 28,888 Ml of water in it, which makes it about 10cm above the nominal full level.
Greens Lake is holding 26,680 Ml. This is about 5000 Ml below full.
G-MW said water was diverted into Greens Lake and Lake Cooper from the Cornella Creek Catchment and the Waranga Western Channel.
The Waranga Western Channel at Corop.
G-MW staff visited the pumping station last week (November 10), but G-MW did not respond to questions about whether the station could be restarted.
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