The Lower South Esk Irrigation Scheme commenced operations in October 2013 and services the Conara, Epping Forest, Evandale, Perth and Longford areas in Northern Tasmania. The majority of water in the Lower South Esk system is delivered through the South Esk River. A pump station located on the banks of the South Esk River extracts winter flows from the river and it is pumped via a transfer pipeline to be stored in the 6,000 ML Milford dam.
Releases from the dam are made via the transfer pipeline back to the river during each irrigation season. The scheme’s Irrigators draw their water directly from the river further downstream. Water is harvested in the winter when the river is high and held until summer when the river is much lower.