Frequently asked questions

Aside from rainfall runoff captured in farm dams under a harvestable right (which can be used for any purpose), current law requires landholders who want to take water from a water source (like a river or groundwater system) to hold a water access licence, even if the water is to prepare for and fight bushfires. This places an excessive burden and cost on people trying to protect life and property and causes non-compliance if someone uses water taken under a domestic and stock right for these purposes.

Changes are proposed to make it easier and cheaper for landholders to access water in readiness for, and during, emergency fire situations.

No. ‘Bushfire’ and ‘firefighting’ should be read broadly to include all types of fire emergencies, including bushfires, grassfires, shrubland fires, electrical fires, house fires, fires on industrial premises, etc.

The volume of water needed is only small compared with other consumptive uses of water, and the use would be intermittent in nature. That is why a licence exemption is proposed with no limit on the volume of water taken and used when a fire is an imminent threat to a property or to fight a fire that has started on a property.

A limit is, however, proposed on how much water can be taken from surface water and groundwater sources to store in dams and tanks for later use, at 100,000 litres (0.1 megalitres) per landholding per year. This would prevent the small minority of people who don’t follow water rules from misusing the exemptions. It exceeds the minimum water storage requirements that the NSW Rural Fire Service and local Councils apply to developments on rural lots in fire prone areas, which is set at 20,000 litres.

The proposal is that the water taken can only be used for an actual or imminent fire that is threatening a property. The water taken under the exemption could not be used for commercial purposes, such as irrigating crops and pasture, mining, other industrial uses, etc. The Proposed Approach Paper has more detail about the proposed uses that the exemption could cover

Some conditions are needed to manage the risks and impacts of allowing additional water to be taken from water sources, to ensure water is sustainably extracted and equitably used. They also play a key role in making sure the new arrangements are enforceable.

No. Whether and how landholders are recompensed for water taken from their property to fight emergency fires (burning on their property or on neighbouring land) is a matter being separately considered by the NSW Rural Fire Service and NSW Reconstruction Authority.

No. Harvestable rights relate to the portion of rainfall runoff that can be captured and stored on a property in a dam, without a licence/approval. Harvestable rights water can already be lawfully used for bushfire preparedness and firefighting. Water taken under a stock and domestic right however, cannot be lawfully used for these purposes, hence the need to make changes.

Rather than relying on landholders reporting volumes of water taken under the proposed exemption, which would be difficult in emergency and high-stress situations, it is proposed to carry out periodic landholder surveys (every 3-5 years) in areas that have been widely affected by bushfire. Surveys would help us understand how the exemption is being used (extent and scale of water used for bushfire preparedness and firefighting) and whether this type of access should transition to some form of basic landholder right in the future.

A Technical Advisory Group with representatives from the relevant water agencies and the NSW Rural Fire Service has been reviewing and advising on this issue.

The department also held a range of initial meetings with peak stakeholder groups on the policy options in December 2023.  It included positive and productive conversations with Local Government NSW, NSW Farmers, NSW Irrigators’ Council, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, and various community-based organisations.

This work is being done as quickly as possible and in a way that doesn’t affect the critical operations and activities of the NSW Rural Fire Service. We are making sure the experts are being engaged, that all options have being properly assessed and that key stakeholders and the broader community have a chance to have their say on the proposed approach.

It is important that we understand the range of bushfire response situations that landholders and community groups deal with on the ground so that the proposed approach will be as effective as possible.