Communities downstream from one of Victoria's largest dams are monitoring conditions, with warnings rainfall in coming days could see it spill for the first time since 1996.
Thomson Dam in West Gippsland is Melbourne Water's biggest dam, holding half the city's supply, and is at 98.5 per cent capacity.
Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) Commissioner Andrew Crisp said it could spill in the next few days.
He said, if it happened, it would be the first time since 1996.
But he stressed that modelling suggested there would be "no significant impact to communities downstream".
Managing Director of Melbourne Water Dr Nerina Di Lorenzo said it was hard to predict when it would spill.
"We still have some headroom, so we've got some spare capacity still and that will be sufficient in the short term," she said.
"It just depends on what comes today and what comes over the coming few weeks."
She said the dam's level was managed through regular controlled releases and a spill would happen with a "measured pace".
"That's really important — all of these systems are connected, and we're always considering what the downstream impacts are, and managing that really carefully."
Farmers keeping a close eye
Agricultural contractor and grower at Cowwarr, Sonny Stephens, said she had been monitoring the dam for a few weeks.
Her property is close to Rainbow Creek — downstream of the Thomson Dam — which continues to the Gippsland Lakes.
"There's no indication [from authorities] that we're going to get anything other than perhaps what would be regarded as a high winter flow," Ms Stephens said.
She said the local catchment management authority had recently planted about 10,000 shrubs and trees where flora had been damaged in last year's June floods.
"I'll be terribly disappointed if we get a moderate or higher flood because a lot of that good work will be lost," she said.
Ms Stephens said, in her area, floods came and disappeared quickly.
However, they tended to last longer in areas towards Sale in the Macalister irrigation district.
"There were some who thought that the dam would never fill, so to see it once again full is really good for the state."
