Bendigo fears no water within 15 months

The Bendigo council, in central victoria, fears the city will run out of water before a $70 million pipeline from the Goulburn system is built by the end of next year.

Central Victorian storages are at record low levels and householders are banned from outside use of water.

Mayor David Jones says the council wants an urgent joint working group with the federal and state governments to examine ways of alleviating the crisis.

"It's a bit hard to put an actual date on it, but clearly from ... you know, the back of the envelope calculations if we don't get any more serious rain the pipeline will not arrive before we run out under the current regime," he said.