But Water Security minister Karlene Maywald says rain is “the only thing that is going to help people in the Riverland” and the Government could not allocate water if it was not there.
“It’s like saying take five per cent of an empty bucket,” she said.
“It is a dire situation.”
She said earlier this week that based on latest storage figures, irrigators would not receive an allocation for the start of the season in July. But the Government was investigating other solutions.
Mrs Maywald this morning attended a meeting of Murray-Darling basin water ministers to discuss the environmental condition of the drought affected basin.
She said the group was concerned the record drought conditions had not eased and there was very little water in storage.