Mr Holding said due to the extreme circumstances, around 20-30pc of the system was not fully operational.

"Goulburn-Murray Water has today indicated that this year irrigators received around 633 billion litres of water – the lowest amount of water ever delivered in the system and significantly lower than the 902 billion litres delivered in 2006/07," Mr Holding said.

"Estimated losses from the system for the year will still be around 380 billion litres, despite the system being brought to its knees by drought and climate change.

"So for every 2ML that arrived on farm this year, 1ML was lost to get it there. These losses as a proportion of the total water delivered are not sustainable."

Mr Holding said this showed that farmers are getting by with less water than ever before and that the system is stretched to breaking point.

"Operating the irrigation system like this is not sustainable. Irrigators need help – and they are getting it in the form of the Food Bowl Modernisation Project," he said.

Emergency measures introduced by the State Government this year to reduce the massive losses in the system include:

· closure of irrigation channels for extended periods;

· water trucked in for stock and domestic supplies;

· running channels at minimum levels, which reduces flow rates onto farms, thus making irrigation slower; and

· requirement that some irrigators order water in groups to reduce losses.

Mr Holding said the Food Bowl Modernisation Project would provide on average an additional 175 billion litres of water for irrigators.