News
Water NSW, DCCEEW and NRAR pricing proposal
The pricing proposals put to IPART for review by Water NSW and Water Administration Ministerial Corporation (WAMC) in November 2024 are we
believe excessive. The GVIA have made submissions on both proposals and have had a one on one meeting with the IPART WAMC and WaterNSW
regional and rural water price review teams to discuss our concerns. The team at NSWIC have also prepared a submission and held a meeting
with IPART.
Submissions to the IPART Issues paper are available here
NSWIC Monthly Newsletter
Please find included a link to the January newsletter from the NSWIC.
- Federal election
- Basin Plan is working
- Proposed wetlands in inland WSPs
- National Water Agreement
- Review of rural water pricing
CA Meeting with Qld Govt on NAW
Meeting with Qld Water Minister Ann Leahy
Cotton Australia, National Irrigators' Council and Border Rivers Food and Fibre, met with the Hon Ann Leahy, QLD Minister for Local Government and Water, to discuss the proposed National Water Agreement (NWA) and provide insights into matters of concern.
Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray acknowledged that the current public draft of the agreement was much improved on previous versions released throughout last year, but there were still matters of significant concern and an overriding question as to what benefit signing the agreement would bring to a state like Queensland.
“Given the states are being asked to sign this agreement, but no money has been put on the table, it is hard to see why a state would voluntarily limit some of its decision-making capacity and commit significant resources to developing implementation plans, even if the proposed NWA was a good document that could be supported by stakeholders,” Mr Murray said.
Key areas of concern include:
- The inclusion of the statement giving Indigenous Australians a concept of “Free, Prior and Informed Consent,” but no clarity on what this actually means within the context of water management, despite the glossary section assuring that it does not mean a right of veto.
- The retention of the Risk Assignment framework (currently in the National Water Initiative) that allows, under some circumstances, the recovery of water from entitlement holders without compensation, where industry holds that if water recovery is required, it should be through market-based mechanisms.
- A lack of recognition of the importance of irrigated agriculture in the draft.
- Inclusion of a clause encouraging jurisdictions to move towards “Upper Bound” pricing, fortunately something Queensland rejects.
Cotton Australia will continue to work with the National Irrigators' Council, National Farmers Federation, Queensland Farmers Federation, and NSW Irrigators' Council to provide feedback to the federal and state governments on how this draft agreement can be improved. Read More
NSWIC December Newsletter
Please find included the link to the NSWIC December newsletter.
The GVIA work closely with the NSWIC to ensure we are able to advocate as strongly as possible for our members. This partnership will
continue into 2025, and we thank our members for supporting the NSWIC through their levees.
Issues covered in the newsletter include: Water pricing, the National Water Agreement, WSP and MDBA Constraints roadmap.
7News story on wetland classification
Included is the link to the 7 News regional from Thursday 9th January, where NSW National Party leader Dougal Saunders and Macquarie Food and Fibre Executive Officer Michael Drum talk about the implications from the proposals to add hundreds of newly prescribed wetlands into unregulated Water Sharing Plans across the state.
The media talks about lack of consultation with landholders, implications for property sales and valuations and the use of remote sensing to identify the sites in question. It raises the need for compensation where there are impacts to landholders ability to run their
businesses.
Temporary Ground Water Tender Available
1 x 38 ML (megalitres) of Lower Gwydir Groundwater allocation for sale. You can bid in price/megalitre by emailing gvia@gvia.org.au before 5pm Friday 28th February 2025. The buyer will be required to cover the WaterNSW application and dealing fees and the GVIA transaction fee of $55.00 (Inc GST). Please note as of July 2024, there have been changes to the process for tiaging and assessing groundwater temporary trades. More information is available here.
Read More
Lower Gwydir Channel Capacity Constraints
Gwydir Valley Channel Capacity Constraints
6 January 2025: WaterNSW advises customers on the Gwydir River below Tyreel Weir that demand may exceed channel capacity in mid-January and throughout the remainder of the irrigation season.Water demand on the Lower Gwydir recently exceeded delivery capacity, resulting in temporary water delivery shortfalls in lower reaches of the Gwydir.
Customers are encouraged to extract water only at ordered rates and only ordered volumes.
Whilst current water orders and subsequent delivery forecast does not indicate a return to demand exceeding delivery capacity in the immediate future, it is anticipated that delivery constraints will occur throughout late January and early February 2025.
Rostering of available channel capacity will occur if a return to demand exceeding available capacity occurs as was last experienced in January 2018.
Water orders can be placed by accessing iWAS at waternsw.com.au/iwas
Water ordering information can be found at the WaterNSW website Ordering water - WaterNSW
For account enquiries please contact 1300 662 077.
More information: Visit WaterInsights to view announcements and sign up for notifications at waterinsights.waternsw.com.au.
Issued by: Water Operations North
MDBA Constraints Relaxation Implementation Roadmap
Today the MDBA have released the Constraints Relaxation Implementation Roadmap. Constraints relaxation were identified as a necessary component to enhance environmental outcomes from water recovery in the original Basin Plan. They were the driving force behind schedule 5
Enhanced environmental outcomes to increase the volume of water resources available for environmental use by 450 GL per year. There will be
challenges for producers in our region. The roadmap states:
"New South Wales is also at an advanced stage in the planning of constraints relaxation implementation in the Gwydir. Engagement with
stakeholders and landholders has identified key issues to delivery that mean full implementation will likely extend beyond December 2026.
The Australian and NSW governments are working together to rescope the Reconnecting Watercourse Country Program to ensure tangible outcomes
are delivered to relax system constraints in the Gwydir by December 2026. In April 2025, NSW will provide an options assessment report to the Commonwealth identifying the preferred delivery option for a rescoped program."
.jpg)
Template to help with Wetland submissions
The Draft Gwydir unregulated Water Sharing Plan includes 327 newly prescribed wetlands. If you have one of these on your property, or
neighbouring your property you may wish to put in a submission to the NSW government raising your concerns.
The included template is an example of what you might like to use
in your submission to the NSW Government. Please replace the text highlighted yellow with your thoughts for the wetland you are concerned
about. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact the GVIA on 02 6752 1399.
Anyone can put in a submission, these are due on the 2nd of February 2025.
The following link provides a number of documents, including an interactive map regarding the water sharing plan and the wetlands.
The department are hosting a webinar on the wetlands on Monday 9th December, You can register
here.
NSWIC Media on WaterNSW Pricing
WaterNSW pricing proposal to double cost of rural water
Rural water users in NSW could see their costs more than double over the next five years if IPART accepts the WaterNSW pricing proposal released today.
NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller said pricing proposal recommends hiking water bills by 21-24% every year for five years, adding up
to $40,000 to a ‘typical’ farmer’s water bill by 2030.
“NSWIC is alarmed by this proposal and urges stakeholders across industries to understand the implications. Many stakeholders are not fully
informed about the proposed prices, leaving them at risk of being unprepared until it is too late,” Ms Miller said.