Residents of Whitlands and the upper King Valley have raised serious concerns about an application made by Domaine Chandon Australia to construct a bore at its Whitlands property and extract up to 90ML of water a year, believing it could potentially leave the entire plateau high and dry.

The company has submitted an application to Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) to amend an existing licence, wanting permission to drill 120 metres below the surface and potentially extract up to 90 million litres of groundwater to irrigate its vineyards each year.

Locals say extracting this volume of water could drain the aquifer and lead to water shortages, drying nearby springs and streams, impacting neighbouring households and other farming operations and threatening groundwater dependent ecosystems.

Immediate neighbours received notification by email of the application in early July, a public notice was placed in print media and word spread via social media, with about half the population of Whitlands believed to have so far formally lodged their concerns with GMW.

Whitlands farmer and viticulturalist Rachael Croucher said local grape growers don't understand why Domaine Chandon needs to irrigate their vineyards at all.

She said the property already has two substantial dams, and good vineyard management was all that was needed to cope with reduced rainfall and periods of drought.

“Those of us with vineyards up here all dry grow them - we haven't watered out here for 20 years," she said.

"You need to water new plantings for the first few years to get them started, but once they are established, they are fine."

Ms Croucher said their properties at Whitlands, located at 800 metres elevation on a small plateau, was a geologically unique and fragile environment, with a layer of water located under a basalt cap.

"We have seepage springs and artesian springs, and the artesian spring on my place never stops, even in the driest year," she said.

"But I believe if GMW allows Domaine Chandon to draw 90 megalitres out of the artesian water, it will change the ground pressure and affect everything, including the flow into Jessie's Creek and Boggy Creek and other tributaries, and have a really huge impact.

"We want GMW to do the appropriate investigations to ensure there will be no environmental damage."

Laurel and Kevin Croucher have been living in Whitlands for 50 years and have grown wine grapes for one of Australia's most successful national and international brands for decades.

They have also grown blueberries on their property for 35 years and rely on their spring for stock and domestic water.

A direct neighbour to Domaine Chandon, Mrs Croucher said regular watering was actually detrimental to the health of the vines, because it discouraged them from developing a deep root system and becoming self-sufficient.

She said studies done in the 1980s which involved excavating next to some of the old vines, showed the root systems went down as far as six metres.

Mr Croucher said he was also concerned about the impact extracting that volume of water would have on the streams which ran off the plateau and were a vital water source for native animals and at-risk species including lyrebirds, yabbies, Murray crayfish and platypus.

After residents began to express their concerns to a Domaine Chandon representative, the company called a meeting on 15 July which was attended by more than 20 locals.

Mrs Croucher said many more wanted to attend but weren't available on a weekday, and while they were grateful the company listened to their concerns, they left without any resolution.

"It's a multi-billion-dollar company and they say how important their vineyard is to them, but so is our survival," she said.

Whitfield resident Chris Masters said landholders want GMW to suspend its assessment of Domaine Chandon's application to construct a bore until a fully independent hydrological study is completed as part of an Environment Effects Statement.

"The EES process is a structured framework assessing the project's potential environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts to inform decision makers and stakeholders about the likely effects and how best to mitigate them," he said.

"This will enable the best possible outcome for both Domaine Chandon and the community."

GMW says any person able to demonstrate that their interests will be affected by the issuing of the licence to Domaine Chandon Australia, has until August 11 to make a formal submission.

GMW said it would not respond to questions regarding individual license applications.

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Domaine Chandon says bore just part of options

Domaine Chandon Australia is owned by Moët Hennessy, the wines and spirits division of the French luxury conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy).

Domaine Chandon Australia estate director Susan Caudry said the business has not committed to constructing a bore, but as the vineyard is in a location with decreasing rainfall over time, it was sensible to explore every option in regard to water availability.

She said the business was open to considering different ways to reduce its water usage, undertaking a variety of measurements and tests, which they believed was the sustainable approach.

"The process we're going through now is another part of understanding what our options are," she said.

"Our commitment is to use as little water as possible to get the right, sustainable result."

Ms Caudry said they were also committed to being good neighbours and continuing their engagement with the community, understanding the community felt strongly about the issue.

"Our next step is to do a hydrology study - we like to be reasonably scientific about these things and get the right level of data and information before we go to the next steps," she said.

"We've commissioned a business that is local and knows the area really well to do the study, and we'll get a comprehensive report from that."

Ms Caudry said the hydrology report is expected to be completed by mid to late October and it will be discussed internally, but she would not commit to making the entire report public.

"We will be open about the top lines of it and very open about any steps we might be planning to take, and we expect to get feedback, which we will take on board," she said.

Ms Caudry said Domaine Chandon Australia was not willing to reveal details on the Whitlands property's current surface water supply, its water storage capacity or its estimated annual water usage, but she said it was committed to using as little water as possible.

She said even if Goulburn-Murray Water were to grant the licence, it did not mean they would go through with constructing a bore.

"We give a 100 per cent commitment to our neighbours and our local community that we will continue to listen, be open and discuss this matter with them," she said.