South Australian irrigators along the Murray River face having their water allocations slashed in the coming financial year if the dry conditions continue.
The state government says early indications are that initial water allocations for 2019/20 could be as low as 14 per cent.
"This minimum allocation presents what is expected to be a worst-case scenario for food producers, allowing them to plan for the worst while we all continue to hope for significant improvements," Water Minister David Speirs said on Monday.
Mr Speirs said the low allocation was based on current water storage volumes across the Murray-Darling Basin and projected inflows to the river system.
River Murray Water Operations Manager Jarrod Eaton said the early projections also assumed the very dry conditions would continue.
"Despite the very low projected opening allocation, significant improvements across 2019/20 are likely," he said.
"Most inflows to the Murray system historically occur between July and November, so the main inflow season is yet to arrive."
The Bureau of Meteorology's outlook for the Murray-Darling Basin show no strong indication to either a wetter or drier than average next three months.
Irrigators in SA will also be able to carry over unused water from the current year to a maximum of 20 per cent of their full entitlement.
