GWM Water's latest figures - released on Wednesday, January 6 - also show a slight decline in levels since their previous update on December 23.

GWM Water managing director Mark Williams said it was an expected decline during the summer period.

"The overall situation is we are tracking similar to the same time last year, with most of the water being in our most efficient storages," he said.

"The storages required for water consumption are also all up, except Lake Bellfield which is 3 per cent lower (at 67 per cent)."

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Lake Fyans was at 75 per cent, Taylors Lake at 71 per cent, Lake Wartook at 54 per cent and Rocklands Reservoir at 29 per cent.

Mr Williams said the increase in storages required for water consumption was related to the consistent rain seen in winter and spring last year.

"If anything, that's more related to the demand side than the supply," he said.

"If you look at 2019, there was very little rain after July. Whereas in 2020, we had rain events right through July, August, September and October.

"That kept things reasonably damp, so we haven't had the sort of heavy consumption that we might have had otherwise.

"People haven't had to water their gardens as frequently, there's a bit of local harvesting off roofs, so people haven't been as reliant on the water system."

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Recreational reservoirs Lake Lonsdale and Green Lake however are significantly lower than they were in January 2020.

Green Lake is at 33 per cent compared to 59 per cent last year, while Lake Lonsdale is down to 13 per cent from 23 per cent in January 2020.

There were public concerns for the state of Lake Lonsdale after wildlife were found dead in parts of the drying lake prior to the New Year.

The Wimmera Catchment Authority has attributed some of this to "operational issues" and is working with GWM Water to investigate the cause of the incident.

Mr Williams said while it received decent rainfall at the weekend, the lake was very susceptible to rapid evaporation.

"That water dissipates quite quickly in this summer period when there is evaporation," he said.

"Our biggest challenge with Lonsdale at this time of year is what extent of it gets committed to environmental releases compared to the prospect of it going dry.

"That's something we have to work through with the store manager.

"In the context of the rain we did have, unless you have a series of wet day events, the catchment is quite dry, so it doesn't run.

"You only really get the benefit of the water over the catchment. There was about 40mm over the Lonsdale catchment.

"Nothing of significance has got into Lake Bellfield or Wartook."

Mr Williams was also hopeful the La Nina weather pattern which is still in effect would bring more summer rain.

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