The latest Natural Resources Access Regulator data shows few prosecutions after a host of water theft investigations whilst the NSW department of environment has given some grace to flood-affected farmers, moves both welcomed by the peak irrigator group.
The NSW Irrigators' Council chief executive officer Claire Miller said the extension of time by 6 months to 1 June 2023 to comply with water metering compliance in the southern Murray-Darling Basin was a sensible move:
“We were hearing from many farmers feeling anxious as deadlines loomed, who wanted to do the right thing, but need to prioritise their health, safety and disaster recovery effort.”
“For farmers with homes, livestock, pumps and produce washed away by floods, having to replace existing water meters with a new, expensive models right now would’ve rubbed salt in a very raw wound.”
The NRAR's latest report showed 78 water taking and metering offences were investigated out of the 12,000 water access licence holders, with 99 per cent of properties inspected for overdrawn accounts founds to be compliant. Ms Miller said the data cleared NSW irrigators' names:
“The data speaks for itself and debunks the common misconception of widespread water theft.”
A former Wentworth irrigator was prosecuted in November for illegally pumping 13 gigalitres of water in drought conditions between 2011 and 2015, the NRAR's highest volume of water taking prosecuted to date.
To hear Flow's full interview with the NSWIC's Claire Miller, listen on the Flow podcast player below.
Ms Miller said the Murray-Darling Basin's health was improving thanks to current flooding, but thoughts needed to be spared for when the system dries again and farmers will be looking for water:
"Almost 1 in 3 litres in irrigation water is now going to the environment and the environment gets the bulk of inflows as well.
"The next 'millennium' drought for example, and we know from droughts since then, the environment is much better off because it has that additional water to help it survive drought and be in that jump position to respond when it gets wet.
"The thing is, the irrigators, farmers, they've got a third less water available to them. It's put them in a much more precarious position each time we go into drought."