Water broker and Integra Water Services owner Liz Johnston has been in the water industry for more than 20 years and, along with her Tatura-based team Giannina DeAngelis and Mitchell McGrath, provide tailored advice to their clients.
Ms Johnston and Ms DeAngelis are both full members of the Australian Water Brokers Association.
Ms Johnston said it had been a positive couple of years for irrigators.
“We’ve had good autumn and spring breaks for the past two to three years — with good amounts of rain, generally at the right times,” she said.
“The conditions have been ideal for irrigators and this has meant clients have not needed to go to the market to secure as much allocation water as they have in drier years.
“Sellers of allocation on the other hand have seen fairly low prices for most of the season, which is a change from the past few years.”
Ms Johnston said with the irrigation season about to wind up, now was an ideal time for people to balance up their ABA (allocation bank account) and seek advice, if needed, about what allocation to carryover for next year.
“No two customers are the same and each we would give customer-specific advice depending on the system their water is delivered from,” she said.
“It’s also important to understand how much of your portfolio is in high- and low-reliability water shares and to factor in the risk of spill in each system.”
Water brokers can also advise on options such as leasing carryover space and locking in a volume of water at a set price for the season ahead.
Ms Johnston said staying abreast of messages from the northern Victoria resource manager and ensuring your water broker was a member the AWBA was also valuable for clients when dealing with the complexities of water markets.