an overview of the public exhibition of the barwon-darling ... · an overview of the public...
TRANSCRIPT
Public consultation | October 2019
An overview of the public exhibition of the Barwon-Darling
Watercourse and Murray – Lower Darling Surface Water Resource
Plan
• Introduction to Water Resource Plans
• Barwon-Darling Water Resource Plan
• Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan
• Lower Darling water Sharing Plan
• Public exhibition – have your say
• Drought Update
Agenda
Photo: NSW DPI
Introduction - Water Resource Plans
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
Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan
Barwon-Darling water source
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
Changes in A class thresholds
• 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
Management zones in the Barwon-Darling
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
Removal of imminent flows
• 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
Protection of the resumption of flow
Protecting the resumption of flows
Multi-sectional rule design
• 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 refugia, maintaining water quality, and wetting
of the channel (especially if there is a larger flow following).
Benefits
Individual Daily Extraction Limits
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. This will achieve both 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 will have 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
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 calculated on 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).
IDEL details
Active management of environmental water
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
Adjusting access – the concept
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
Surface Water Resource Plans:
• NSW Murray and Lower Darling
NSW Murray and Lower Darling WRP area
Proposed changes to the water sharing plan
Objectives, strategies and performance indicators revised
Establish a second extraction limit, which is the 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
Standardising provisions for EWAGs and compliance assessment advisory
committees (CAACs).
NSW Murray and Lower Darling Regulated Rivers Water Sources WSP
Proposed changes to the water sharing plan
Establishment of a Lower Darling restart allowance
Development of Inter-valley trade procedures to codify current practice
Simplification of the trade clauses to clarify the use of tagged trading between
water sources
NSW Murray and Lower Darling Regulated River Water Sources WSP
Implementation of pre-requisite policy measures in the River Murray &
Lower Darling River
Broaden use of the Lower Darling EWA
Proposed changes to the water sharing plan
NSW Murray and Lower Darling Regulated River Water Sources WSP
Public Exhibition period
The Barwon-Darling Watercourse Surface and Murray – Lower Darling Water Resource Plans are 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
Final Questions?
Barwon-Darling and Lower Darling
Drought update
18 October 2019 Michael Wrathall
Water Drought Coordinator
Rainfall
• Since January 2017,
rainfall has been the
lowest on record for
NSW
• Total winter 2019
rainfall in NSW was the
fourth-lowest on record
and the lowest since
1982
Temperature
• The 2017 and 2018
calendar years were
the warmest on record
in NSW
• Mean temperatures in
the northern basin >1.5 oC above average
Combined metrics
• 99.2% of NSW is in drought (13
October 2019)
• Most of the recent rain has been coastal
• Soil moisture remains very low
Water storages
• Major rural NSW water
storages are 1/3 of
capacity on average
• Storages are only 5%
of average in the north
• Lowest cumulative inflows in recorded
history
• All water storages have missed the
winter inflows
• Major northern storages running a
deficit to sustain critical needs over
about 2.5 years
Cumulative inflows: northern basin
Overview: Barwon-Darling river
Drought stage
Stage 1:
Normal
operations
Stage 2:
Emerging
drought
Stage 3:
Severe
drought
Stage 4:
Critical
drought
Extreme Events Policy
Measure Date Result
Drought stage May 19 Critical (4)
Temporary
restriction
Apr-Aug
19
Irrigation access
suspended
Temporary
restriction
Mar-Jun
18
Irrigation access
suspended
● Currently no flows along full river length
● Pumping has been restricted to all
flows since mid 2017
● No flows over Bourke weir since 18 August
2018 - the cease to flow is now a record 425
days long
Overview: Lower Darling river
Drought stage
Stage 1:
Normal
operations
Stage 2:
Emerging
drought
Stage 3:
Severe
drought
Stage 4:
Critical
drought
Extreme Events Policy
Measure Date Result
Drought stage Dec 18 Critical (4)
Temporary
restriction Dec
18
Extraction for
domestic,
stock &
permanent
plantings
Two temporary
weirs
constructed
Nov 18 Upstream of
Pooncarie
Temporary
weir in Lake
Pamamaroo
Sep 18 Pumped
transfer to
Copi Hollow
Two temporary
weirs
constructed
Jun 18 Downstream
of Pooncarie
Temporary
bank in Lake
Wetherell
Mar 18 Pumped
transfer to
reduce
evaporation
● Lake Wetherell ~ 8,000 ML
● Copi Hollow ~ 4,000 ML
● No inflows since August 2018
0.7%
of
capaci
ty
Autumn/Winter 2019
● Flows have now ceased along
the Barwon-Darling
● Flows reached Wilcannia on
15 June, but not Lake Wetherell
● Flows contributed to town water
supply weirs, including Bourke
Northern fish flow event 2019
Collarenebri Weir: before and after flow
21 May 2019
28 May 2019
28 May 2019
Source: CEWO, 11 Sep 2019
Warrego flows 2019
Barring
un
Fords
Bridge
Dicks Dam
Louth
Tilpa
Wilcannia
Toorale Station
Toorale Water Infrastructure Project
• Removal of Peebles Dam (Phase 1) is scheduled
for October 2019
• Detailed designs for Phase 2 are being finalised
and environmental assessment has commenced
• Pending approvals, the works will commence in
2020 and are due for completion in 2021
• For more info, go to www.environment.nsw.gov.au
How we’re responding
NSW Government drought assistance
$1.8 billion package including:
• Construction of four block banks in the Lower Darling
• 10,000 megalitre transfer from Lake Pamamaroo to Copi Hollow
• Provision of town water supplies
Further support available:
• Interest free or low interest loans
• Funding for shovel ready regional projects
• Transport subsidies
• Assistance for stock disposal
• Mental health and rural financial counselling
• Training to upskill farmers and contractors
Further information: droughthub.nsw.gov.au or call 1800 618 593
How we’re responding
Public meetings
• Three drought roadshows: Feb, May/Jun and
Oct/Nov
• 35 meetings
• 20 different regional locations
• Over 1,000 attendees
Managing in regulated rivers
• Carryover water is restricted or suspended
in 8 out of a total 11 inland river valleys
• High priority allocations are less than the
usual 95-100% in six valleys
• Groundwater allocations are reduced in 8
water sources
• Deliveries have fully ceased in the Lower
Namoi and Lower Darling
• Deliveries have partially ceased in the
Macquarie & NSW Border Rivers
• Deliveries are expected to partially cease
in the Peel
Water quality risks
• Key risks include algal blooms, mobilisation
of salinity with inflows, blackwater events,
stratification of stagnant waterbodies and
decreased oxygen.
• For information on identifying, reporting and
current algal alerts go to Algae page on
WaterNSW’s website.
• For information on water quality for stock and
water testing go to the NSW DroughtHub.
Algal alerts in NSW
15 October
2019
Seasonal forecast
Rainfall
Temperature
DPIE Water
• Allocations
• NSW Extreme events policy
• Temporary water restrictions
• Water sharing plan suspensions
• Critical Water Advisory Panels
www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water
WaterNSW
• NSW water availability: greater
Sydney & regional
• Valley updates
• Algal alerts
• River Operations Stakeholder
Consultation Committees
www.waternsw.com.au
DPI Agriculture
• Available drought assistance
• Drought maps
• State seasonal updates
• Managing farm businesses in drought
• Wellbeing – supporting mental health
www.droughthub.nsw.gov.au
More information
More information
Background information
Fish management
• Increasing risk of fish deaths over summer: low flows, poor quality water
and rising temperatures
• $10 million program of fish rescue and relocation, artificial aeration of
refuge pools and environmental water delivery (where possible)
• In the Macquarie over 80 drought refuge pools have been mapped -
similar actions underway in other catchments
• Over 1,100 adult Murray cod and Golden perch have been rescued from
drying pools in the Lower Darling
• Over 100,000 Murray cod fingerlings have been produced at the
Narrandera hatchery from just 20 fish rescued during the 2018/19 fish
death events
• Large-scale aeration projects in the Lower Darling, Macquarie and
Namoi to support fish in remnant habitats
• DPI Fisheries has established valley-based committees for expert advice
• To report fish deaths, call the Fishers Watch hotline: 1800 043 536