View
2
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
Public consultation | October 2019
An overview of the public exhibition of the Barwon-Darling
Watercourse Surface Water Resource Plan and proposed changes to
the Barwon-Darling water sharing plan
• Introduction to Water Resource Plans
• Barwon-Darling Water Resource Plan
• Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan
• Changes in A class thresholds
• Imminent flow
• Protection of the resumption of flow
• Individual Daily Extraction Limits
• Active Management
• Public exhibition – have your say
Agenda
Photo: NSW DPI
Legislation
Water Act 2007
(Cwlth)
• Principles
Water Management
Act 2000 (NSW)
• Principles
• Priorities
• Extreme events
Instruments Agencies and roles
Murray Darling Basin
Plan 2012
Water Resource Plans
(WRPs)
• How NSW water
management meets
the Basin Plan
Water Sharing Plans
(WSPs)
• Rules for managing
environmental and
consumptive water
Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA)
• Review state WRPs to show states are managing
water under the Basin Plan requirements
Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH)
• Manage held environmental water that has been
recovered from licence buybacks and efficiency
projects under the Basin Plan
DPIE – Biodiversity Conservation Division (formerly
OEH)
• Manages held planned environmental under
WSPs and held environmental water
DPIE – Water
• Prepares and administers WRPs and WSPs
WaterNSW
• Delivers environmental and consumptive water
orders
Natural Resource Access Regulator (NRAR)
• Compliance with WSPs and water restrictions
Departments and roles in water management
Demonstrate how water resources will be shared and managed
to be consistent with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Set out the requirements for annual limits on water take,
environmental water and managing water during extreme events.
Provide strategies to protect water quality and manage risks.
Set out the arrangements for measuring ‘take’ and monitoring the
resource.
Water resource plan – a Basin Plan requirement
The water sharing
plan forms part of
the WRP. Relevant
parts of a water
sharing plan are
assessed by the
MDBA and
accredited by the
Commonwealth
Minister.
NSW Water Management Act
2000
Water sharing plans
Specify the rules for sharing
water to maintain the health,
sustainability and productivity of
surface water and groundwater
sources across all of NSW.
Commonwealth Water Act 2007
Murray–Darling Basin Plan 2012
Water resource plans
Specify the rules for diverting water
within specified areas of the
Murray–Darling Basin.
Elements include:
• Compliance with the sustainable
diversion limits and water trade
rules
• Protection of water for the
environment
• Water quality and salinity
management and objectives
• Aboriginal values and uses
• Measuring and monitoring
• Arrangements for managing
extreme events
Water Sharing Plans remain the primary
statutory instruments for water sharing in
NSW
Water management in NSW - context
WRP
Compliance with the
sustainable diversion limit
Protection of water
for the environment
Water quality and
salinity objectives
Aboriginal values
and uses
Measuring and
monitoring
Arrangements for
extreme events
NSW
statutory ‘
water sharing
plans’
Water resource plan and water sharing plan
DEVELOP CONSULT APPROVE & ACCREDIT IMPLEMENT
Status
& Issues
paper
February
2017
Strategy
& rule
development
Draft
WRP
Public
exhibition
WRP
September –
October
2019
Ministerial
approval Final
WRP
MDBA
assessment &
Commonwealth
Minister
accreditation
WRP
Commences
2020
Process for developing water resource plans
February 2017:
Status and issues papers
Internal approvals
Other NSW departments approvals
for the water sharing plan
In progress:
Public consultation
First Nations consultation Four Nations
Consultation to date
Stakeholder Advisory Panel
10 meetings
Removal of groundwater sources and associated rules
Objectives, strategies and performance indicators revised
Establish a second extraction limit (sustainable diversion limit specified
in the Basin Plan 2012), and incorporate an assessment and compliance
framework for this limit.
Improve consistency and alignment with policy positions
General proposed changes to water sharing plan
Recognition of Native Title Determination for the Barkandji Native
Title holders
Changes to A Class flow thresholds
Removal of access to imminent flows
Protection of the resumption of flow after an extended dry period
Implementation of Individual Daily Extraction Limits
Active management of environmental water
Proposed changes to the water sharing plan
• Revision of the A-Class Flow Thresholds, changes recommended by
NRC and Vertessy Report
• Proposed A Class thresholds based on multiple sources of information
• Protect low flows plus 10% of the base flow range
• No change to thresholds at Walgett Weir and Mogil Mogil
Changes to A class flow thresholds
Gauge Proposed
(ML/day)
Current
(ML/day)
Gauge Proposed
(ML/day)
Current
(ML/day)
Mungindi 198 230 Brewarrina 550 460
Boomi Confluence 176 220 Culgoa
(Beemery gauge) 570 400
Mogil Mogil 220 190 Culgoa
(Warraweena gauge) 645 400
Collarenebri 317 165 Bourke Town 605 350
Tara gauge 100 100 Louth 555 260
Walgett Weir Pool 600 to 900 600 to 900 Tilpa 505 215
Boorooma 400 530 Wilcannia 455 123
Boorooma
(Geera Gauge) 465 530 U/S Lake Wetherell 850 850
Proposed A class flow thresholds
• Part of the NSW Government response to NRC review
• Current rules allow A and B class licences to request access to low
flows and cease to flow when flows are imminent
• NRC found current rules unlikely to meet requirement for Ministerial
approval:
• granting access is likely to cause unacceptable downstream or
local impacts on the environment or on other users
Removal of imminent flows
• Cultural benefits to Aboriginal communities who have an association with the river. It is
important for regional community well-being.
• Local economies often suffer due to the limited recreational and social opportunities during
dry periods.
• Local communities who rely on this water for human needs and for their stock.
• Environmental benefits include protecting pool habitats, maintaining water quality, and
wetting of the channel (especially if there is a larger flow following).
Benefits
IDELs will limit the volume of water that can be taken from the river every day so that there is the
potential for water to flow downstream to achieve local and downstream benefits, including for the
environment.
Purpose
The maximum total extraction per day (per licence class) will be the sum volume of all authorised pump
capacities or agreed pumping rates in place in October 2012, just prior to the commencement of the
2012 WSP.
Total daily extraction pool
A Class B Class C Class
513 ML/day 10,962ML/day 8,193ML/day
A water access licence has a share component and an extraction component.
Individual Daily Extraction Limits (IDEL)
Share pool Extraction pool
The IDEL has three parts;
- location of management zone,
- the daily flow share,
- and an announcement
IDELs by River Section
Share pool Extraction pool
Section Class Share IDEL
River Section 1 A Class 1,046 54.1
B Class 34,050 2,805.2
C Class 6,964.1 1,247.2
River Section 2 A Class 1,126.5 58.7
B Class 19,138 1,576.5
C Class 33,240 5,953.1
River Section 3 A Class 6,280.5 326.9
B Class 62,850.2 5,177.4
C Class 4.3 0.8
River Section 4 A Class 1,403 72.7
B Class 17,031 1,403.0
C Class 5,537.2 991.7
Distribution:
• IDELs will be distributed based on the licence holders’ share component and will be in the same proportion as
their share of the total of all shares, within each licence class.
• Expressed as a ‘Daily Flow Share’ where 1 DFS = 1 ML unless a lower amount is announced
Trade:
• Permanent trade within river section will be allowed
• No temporary trade is proposed at this stage
Key dates:
• IDELs will be distributed based on the licensing information available as at the first day of public exhibition of
the draft water sharing plan (26 September 2019)
• IDELs are to be effective from the beginning of the next water accounting year (1 July 2020) pending
commencement of the proposed plan amendments
IDEL details
What is active management
• Current unregulated water sharing plans do not protect held environmental water used in-stream from extraction
The problem
• Increased level of management in unregulated rivers
• Involves forecasting flows and estimating volumes arising from different sources and announcing access
Active management – the solution
• Protects water used in-stream for environmental purposes
• Reduces the need for temporary water restrictions
• Clearer for licence holders and public to know when water can and cannot be taken
The benefits
• from an upstream water source
already protected by the
unregulated water sharing plan
• assessed as additional to the
inflows considered when the
Barwon-Darling water sharing plan
commenced
Planned Environmental
Water
• HEW from northern NSW regulated
water sources and Queensland
storages in the Border Rivers
• Unregulated HEW in an active
management area
A method for determining the volume of
HEW arriving at the NSW-Queensland
border must be agreed by NSW before
HEW originating in Queensland will be
active managed in NSW water.
Held Environmental Water
(HEW)
Water to be protected from extraction
In-stream use of unregulated HEW
An environmental water holder will be allocated a volume that they can used on a given day in the same manner as other licence holders
The environmental water holder will need to advise what volume they want to leave in-stream for environmental purposes. They can leave all or some of the water available to them in-stream.
The volume left in-stream will be debited from the HEW allocation account.
The volume debited will be protected from extraction through downstream management zones.
The Procedures Manual will outline:
• The type of water to be protected from
extraction
• How losses are estimated and shared
and operational uncertainty is managed
• How access is determined
• The form and content of
announcements
• The process for accounting for in-
stream use of unregulated HEW
• Must be published on Department’s
website
• Feedback is welcome on Active
Management in Unregulated Rivers –
Draft policy for public consultation
This policy will guide the development of the
procedures manual
Procedures Manual
In summary - changes are proposed to:
Define active environmental water
Adjust access by the amount necessary to
protect the active environmental water from extraction and announce access
Allow unregulated HEW to be left in-stream
Require publishing of an Active Management
Procedures Manual on the Department’s
website
Public Exhibition period
The Barwon-Darling Watercourse Surface Water Resource Plan is on public exhibition from 26 September to 29 October 2019.
More information
For more information or to make an online submission on the draft water resource plan, visit:
www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water-resource-plan-consultation
Have Your Say
www.nsw.gov.au/improving-nsw/have-your-say
Have your say
Recommended