Engagement

A. Water Sharing Plans (WSPs) do not need to go before Parliament. When a WSP is remade or amended, the Minister for Water is responsible for the gazettal of the plan once concurrence approval is received from the Minister for the Environment.

More information on WSPs, including functions, review processes and evaluations can be found Water Sharing Plans - planning process.

A. The Barwon Darling Water Sharing Plan (WSP) is required to be remade by 30 June 2023. The water minister needs to gazette the plan before this date.

For more information on how WSPs work go to: How water sharing plans work - Water in New South Wales.

A. Yes, it is plan without public notification. However, the department would always look to consult stakeholders and the community on proposed changes that would impact them. A current example of this is the online submission consultation on an amendment to the Draft amendment to the Darling Alluvial Groundwater Sources Water Sharing Plan - Water in New South Wales (nsw.gov.au).

A. The Barwon Darling Water Resource Plan is due to be submitted to the Murray Darling Basin Authority for assessment and accreditation before 30 June this year (2022).

Water resource plans have been developed to meet the requirements of Chapter 10 of the Basin Plan 2012 - NSW legislation made under the Cth Water Act 2007.

Water sharing plans are made under the Water Management Act 2000 No 92 - NSW Legislation. They are, and will continue to be, the primary tool to define water-sharing arrangements in NSW. Water sharing plans are therefore a central component of each water resource plan and have been amended to meet Basin Plan requirements where necessary.

A. Each water sharing plan contains a set of objectives and performance indicators that are linked to a monitoring and evaluation plan as outlined how water sharing plans work.

The Barwon Darling Water Sharing Plan (WSP) was on public exhibition for public feedback in 2019 as part of the water resource plan development, click here for details: Barwon-Darling Watercourse Water Resource Plan - Water in New South Wales (nsw.gov.au)

Additionally, the department is currently assessing how we undertake monitoring of other key objectives under the water sharing plan framework including cultural and social outcomes

A. There are many activities that intercept overland flows (the term used under the Water Management Act 2000 No. 92 - NSW Legislation). The Basin states to assess proposed interception activities and the risks they pose to environmental values and downstream water users and to develop strategies for all medium and high-risk activities.

Licensing is not the only option for managing these interception activities. In many cases it is not possible or practical to volumetrically define these activities.

Floodplain harvesting is the deliberate capture, storage, and use of overland flow for irrigation. For more than 20 years floodplain harvesting has been recognised as a diversion NSW intends to volumetrically regulate and measure. Floodplain harvesting is included in the Basin cap and is also included in the national water initiative.

More information go to: About the Healthy Floodplains Project.

A. A key outcome of implementing the NSW Floodplain Harvesting Policy will be to return floodplain harvesting to within the legal limits described by the Basin Plan and NSW water sharing plans. Modelling predicts quite significant increases in flood flow distribution in some areas of the floodplain landscape, arising from implementation of the policy.

Through the development of floodplain management plans we collected information on flood dependent cultural assets. Together with expected improvements in the distribution of floodwaters in locations where we know there are flood dependent cultural assets, we can be confident implementation will translate to an improvement in cultural outcomes.

We also engaged Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations to do nation by nation workshops with First Nations peoples, to engage with communities about implementation of the policy in those catchment areas. This engagement has provided information on feedback from the communities. We are looking to bring that information together and publish a cultural outcomes report in the coming months.

The overriding feedback from First Nations groups is that there is a belief that too much water is being taken, particularly from the floodplain, and this is impacting cultural assets. However, in that feedback there was also strong recognition that control, and regulation of floodplain harvesting would be a good step forward.

For more information go to NSW Floodplain Harvesting Policy - Water in New South Wales

A. There are three main concerns that have been raised with the department, including model validity, critical human and environmental needs and unapproved flood works.

1. Models and model validity

A lot of effort has gone into independent peer review processes internally in New South Wales and the next step is to have the models presented to and ratified by the Murray Darling Basin Authority for cap and Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) accounting processes. Over the last couple of months, we have progressed from State-based assessments into Commonwealth-based assessments. That is one of the key areas we believe will help address the concerns raised by some stakeholder groups and members of Parliament. That is, having our revised models assessed and accepted for both Cap and SDL accounting purposes.

2. Ensuring critical human and environmental needs are not compromised by upstream water extractions

Securing water for these purposes has been considered during development of the Western Regional Water Strategy, particularly developing and implementing rules under s 324 of the NSW Water Management Act and potentially in water sharing plans. Community input regarding the introduction of these rules will be sought. We anticipate this consultation will be completed by 30 June 2022.

3. Unapproved flood works

Historically, management effort and regulation in NSW has been concentrated on rivers, creeks, and our large groundwater systems. The management of floodplains has evolved over time. It is well recognised that there are some key structures, such as levees and banks on floodplains in the northern Basin, that are unapproved and impeding flood flow distribution and causing impacts. There is a desire to bring these into compliance as soon as possible to realise the benefits of free movement of floodwater in the landscape for environmental and cultural purposes. The Government announced a new accelerated compliance program (Improving Floodplain Connections) in late 2021 that aims to bring priority unapproved flood works into compliance within 2.5 years, at least five times quicker than would be the case without the program. This is a positive step to address this concern as well.

For more information see the Floodplain Harvesting Action Plan - Water in New South Wales (nsw.gov.au) and Improving floodplain connections - Water in New South Wales (nsw.gov.au)

A. There is an intersection between flood work approvals and water supply work approvals. Floodplain management plans guide the assessment and approval of flood work approvals. A flood work approval is required for any structure on the floodplain landscape that impacts the flow of water to or from a river or creek. Many works used for floodplain harvesting require a flood work approval, including levies and storages.

When moving through the licensing process for floodplain harvesting, we will not be authorising any structure for floodplain harvesting, that does not have a flood work approval if it requires one. So, if there is a storage that does not have a flood work approval and requires one, it will not be authorised for floodplain harvesting. If there is a levy structure that requires a flood work approval and does not have one, it will not be authorised for floodplain harvesting.

For more information on licensing see Floodplain harvesting licensing - Water in New South Wales (nsw.gov.au)

For more information on floodplain management plans see Floodplain management plans - Water in New South Wales (nsw.gov.au)

A. The River Condition Index is being updated with additional components of information including water quality, biodiversity and catchment disturbance in addition to the previous components. This has been a major project to develop methodology and compile datasets. In addition, it will be a spatial public portal requiring conversion to a geofabric layer. This project is due for completion in 2022.

Information about the River Condition Index methodology is available at: NSW River Condition Index.

A. No, blue green algae was last collected on 8 March 2022. More recent samples are currently being processed.

The Darling River at Trevallyn, Wilcannia and Caulpaulin is currently on amber alert for blue green algae. An amber alert means that the water should be considered as unsuitable for potable use and alternative supplies or prior treatment of raw water for domestic purposes should be considered. The water may also be unsuitable for stock watering. Conditions are generally suitable for water sports. Falling air temperatures and the arrival of higher flows from upstream are expected to cause algal numbers in the Darling River to decrease.

Further information may be found at: Water Quality - Algae.