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Media Release - Department Water and Energy Date: 22 July 2008 $131 MILLION FOR GROUNDWATER AND UNREGULATED RIVER METERING NSW Water Minister Nathan Rees has announced another program as part of the Iemma Government’s commitment to upgrade water infrastructure and improve river health in the Murray Darling Basin.
The $131 million program involves the installation and replacement of about 9,500 meters used to measure the water taken from NSW groundwater sources and unregulated rivers and steams in the Basin.
The move follows the announcement two weeks ago of a $90 million program to replace some 6,000 meters used in regulated rivers – the rivers controlled by our major dams.
Both of these programs are priority water infrastructure projects identified in the $1.358 billion funding for NSW from the Commonwealth as part of the COAG agreement on the Murray Darling Basin.
The Murray Darling Basin is under extreme pressure from the worst drought on record, reduced inflows and decades of too much water extraction. We need to take every possible action to improve water efficiency and ensure a fairer distribution of water resources between the environment, industry and our rural communities.
Currently, only about 50 per cent of groundwater sources are metered.
The replacement project will ensure the installation and accuracy of water meters in all groundwater and unregulated sytems right across the Basin.
This will allow better management of licences and entitlements, in terms of water sharing, accounting, trading, billing and compliance activities.
The project will cover all industries that extract groundwater or water from unregulated systems including irrigation, town water supplies and mining.
The unmetered use of groundwater and unregulated water sources will become a thing of the past.
Hi-tech, efficient metering will result in water savings in groundwater and unregulated water sources.
This will ultimately mean that more water will be available for the environment and bring benefits to the ecosystems of the unregulated rivers and groundwater systems.
By covering all regulated, unregulated and groundwater systems with the new meters we will for the first time have reliable information on licence, valley and Basin water extractions.
The hi-tech metering system will be linked via telemetry to State Water regional headquarters where water extraction will be recorded and monitored against license conditions and entitlements.
Irrigators will benefit from greater accuracy in measuring their water use, increased confidence in system integrity and reliability, and the equitable sharing of water.
A number of areas have been identified for priority metering including: Tarcutta Creek - Wagga Wagga Shire; Adelong Creek – Tumut Shire; Mandagery Creek – Cabonne Shire; and the Castlereagh River.
Both meter replacement and installation projects are subject to full due diligence procedures and final Commonwealth approval. The Commonwealth has already given in principle support.
Mr Rees said the Iemma Government is leading the fight to restore river health in the Murray Darling Basin.
Recent initiatives include:
• Issuing an embargo on all new groundwater extraction across NSW • A draft floodplain harvesting policy to restrict the unrestrained capture of floodwaters that will result in more water being available for the environment • $137.4 million has been earmarked to buy environmental water over the next twelve months to deliver crucial water flows to the rivers and wetlands of the Murray Darling Basin • $137 million is being allocated towards the piping of stock and domestic water sources, reducing evaporation and water losses while also delivering more secure and higher quality water for human needs and livestock • The Iemma Government recently announced tough new penalties for water theft with fines of up to $1.1 million for individuals and $2.2 million for corporations.
The gross value of irrigated agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin is estimated at $1.3 billion.
The industry is growing steadily and competing for finite water resources with other industries that rely on water, local communities and the environment.
Today’s announcement is a further demonstration of the NSW Government’s commitment to work with the Commonwealth, industry and communities to achieve a sustainable outcome for the Murray Darling Basin and restore the health of our rivers.
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