Water trading

Southern Rural Water and Water Partners has teamed up to deliver online water trading services through the Southern Rural Water Exchange platform. Water Partners operate the platform and provide support services to users and Southern Rural Water. The groundwater trade room is a new addition to the platform. 

Initially, the groundwater trade room will be open to licenced groundwater customers with an allocation bank account (ABA) in south west Victoria. We may look to expand the trade room to more groundwater customers in the future.  

Eligible customers must register on the Water Exchange platform to be able to trade.  

Visit Southern Rural Water Exchange to register: www.srwexchange.waterpartners.org.au 

Recent research we conducted on overcoming barriers to trade in south west Victoria clearly shows customers want an easier and more transparent way to trade groundwater.

The groundwater trade room is a new feature on our existing successful Southern Rural Water Exchange platform.  

Our Macalister Irrigation District customers have been using Southern Rural Water Exchange to successfully trade online since August 2023.  

The trade room enables existing groundwater licence holders to buy and sell in the following Groundwater Management Areas or Water Supply Protection Areas:

• South West Limestone Groundwater Management Area
• Portland Groundwater Management Area
• Condah Water Supply Protection Area
• Newlingrook Groundwater Management Area
• Paaratte Groundwater Management Area
• Warrion Water Supply Protection Area
• Colongulac Groundwater Management Area
• Glenormiston Groundwater Management Area

These areas have capped groundwater entitlement volumes. The Victorian Government has put these caps in place to protect the resource.

Right now, no significant additional allocation is proposed in these areas. Trade is the main way users gain access to groundwater and the trade room makes the process more transparent.  

When a buy or sell offer is lodged a platform administrator will insert the relevant trading requirements of the counterparty.

The trading requirements will be listed in the offer to be considered by the potential counter party before they accept the offer.  

The online buying and selling process is underpinned by a trade matrix based on transfer rules and requirements of the Water Act 1989, Sustainable Water Strategy, Groundwater Management Units and Local Management Plans.  

Groundwater Management Units exist to ensure the aquifer is managed sustainably by defining areas with caps on allocation and rules that relate to transfers and pumping restrictions. Local Management Plans explain how these caps, rules and restrictions apply.

When a buy or sell offer is accepted the party accepting the offer will be prompted to check the trading credentials before accepting the offer.  

If accepted, the trade will then progress to a pending trade. Southern Rural Water will then be referred the details of the offer to make an initial assessment before an application form is issued to buyer to complete along with any applicable technical assessment requests.  

Once the application form is counter signed by the seller and assessed by Southern Rural Water the trade will either progress via Southern Rural Water’s approval to Water Partners for trade to proceed, or if the application form is denied, the trade will be cancelled and the buy or sell offer can be reposted.

If a pending trade requires further conditions to be met, the trade will remain pending until it is resolved.

Trades will be subject to terms and conditions. More information is available on the Southern Rural Water Exchange website. 

A deposit will be taken once the trade has been matched. The deposit is equal to 10 percent of the agreed sale price plus the application fee.  

If the trade is unsuccessful due to an unsuccessful application, the application fee portion of the deposit is non-refundable whilst the balance of the deposit taken for the sale price will be refunded.  

The buyer and seller commissions are only due once the trade has successfully been approved.  

Groundwater licence holders and buyers can trade temporary or permanent water entitlement on the Southern Rural Water Exchange platform. 

When we receive an application form as part of a trade, one of Southern Rural Water’s qualified assessment officers will assess it.  

First, we will review it to ensure it contains everything we need to assess your proposal. If it doesn’t, we will contact you.

We need to consider several things including impacts on current users and nearby waterways, local and government policies, irrigation guidelines (if they apply) and items under section 40 of the Water Act 1989.

For simple applications, the process may take a few weeks or up to 12 months for more complex ones.  

More information on the application process can be found on Southern Rural Water’s on our groundwater page.

No matter what we decide, anyone can lodge an appeal to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal within 28 days of the decision being made. Because of this, we delay sending you the final documents until the appeal period has passed.