WATER could soon be running into the region’s reservoirs if heavy autumn rain continues.
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Horsham is on track to record its wettest April in a decade with 52.3 millimetres of rain.
GWMWater water resources manager Kym Wilson said the catchment was now in a good position.
“Over the past few weeks we’ve had between 45 and 75 millimetres of rain fall in the catchment across the Grampians region,” he said.
“The streams haven’t picked up yet, but this is certainly a good start and if we continue to get good rain, we will see the catchment starting to run.”
Parts of the region received more than 50mm in one day last month.
On April 21, Longerenong received 51.6mm, Edenhope received 33mm and Horsham received 32.6mm
GWMWater storage figures show that between April 19 and April 26, 170mm of water flowed into Lake Bellfield.
Rocklands Reservoir received 1330mm of water, Toolondo Reservoir received 510mm and Lake Wartok received 330mm.
It was the first time the volume in many of the reservoirs had increased during April in more than 10 years.
Mr Wilson said while inflows in April was not unusual, it was something the region hadn’t experienced for a while. “We’ve had quite a dry few years but historically the autumn break does happen around Anzac Day,” he said.
“The reservoirs are in a really good position for this time of the year.
The storages are quite full, but there is still room for more.”
Mr Wilson said the rain has secured the region’s storages in case drier weather returns.
“The good part about wetting the catchment now, is that if it does turn dry later in the year, we are still in a good position.” Lake Belfield is 82 per cent full – up from 54 per cent this time last year, while Lake Fyans is 74 per cent, up from 50 per cent and Taylors Lake is 75 per cent, up from 45 per cent.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Scott Williams said most parts of the state had received double to triple the average amount of rain in April.
“There was quite significant rainfall in some parts of the state earlier in April, and we’ve had two pretty significant rains in the past week in Victoria,” he said.
Mr Williams said, in his opinion, the autumn break had definitely arrived.
“It certainly has, and it’s not just been in Victoria, there’s been a lot of rain right throughout southern Australia,” he said.
“We’ve had pretty substantial rain right throughout north-west and western Victoria, with totals above 50 millimetres, and one report of 103mm in Woomelang.”