Namoi Water voices concern with gaps in new Water Sharing Plan

The region’s peak water body, Namoi Water, says it is frustrated by the release of the new Water Sharing Plan for the Namoi and Peel Unregulated river systems, with key data and
technical information still not provided to stakeholders.

Executive officer Mick Coffey said the organisation had engaged constructively throughout the process but was disappointed that important questions remain unanswered now that the plan has commenced.

“There’s a level of frustration that the plan is now in place, but some of the core information needed to properly understand how it will operate hasn’t been provided,” Mr Coffey said.

“A number of the rules that affect when water can be taken from the river are based on technical settings, and the data and modelling behind those settings haven’t been made available to stakeholders.”

Mr Coffey acknowledged that some elements of the final plan had improved somewhat from earlier drafts but said significant impacts remain.

“There does appear to have been some revision in certain areas from what was originally proposed last year, and that’s been recognised,” Mr Coffey said.

“But there are still significant impacts for many licence holders, and when production is affected in a valley like the Namoi, it doesn’t just impact farmers it flows through the entire community.”

Mr Coffey said one of the key concerns for local water users is how river flows are classified under the new plan.

“The rules now depend on how the river flow is classified, and that determines when pumping has to stop,” he said.

“Even small changes to those definitions can have a big impact on when people can access water.”

“Irrigated agriculture is critical across our valley due to the amount of money it injects into the local economy on a reliable basis. Every dollar a farmer doesn’t generate is a dollar that disappears from the local economy and that affects every business, every service, every job and every family in our communities.”

Namoi Water is calling for greater transparency around how those classifications have been developed and how they may change over time.

“If the rules are going to rely on technical classifications, then the methodology behind those classifications needs to be clear and well understood,” Mr Coffey said.

“There’s a real sense that water management is being driven by raw politics rather than science, and what we need to see is a return to genuine consultation, engaging with stakeholders from the beginning, not presenting information once the decisions and direction have already been set. One of our members describes it as ‘insulation, not consultation’, and it’s hard to see it any other way.”

Mr Coffey said Namoi Water’s position is not about opposing environmental outcomes, but about ensuring decisions are properly justified.

“No one is disputing the need for sustainability or that the environment needs to be healthy, those things are fundamental,” he said.

“But if decisions are going to be made that have real socio-economic impacts on communities, then those decisions absolutely need to be backed by science that has been completed, independently peer reviewed and demonstrated and justified to be fit for purpose not simply because someone at a desk somewhere thinks it should be.”

Mr Coffey said Namoi Water has written to the NSW Water Minister seeking clarification on several aspects of the plan, including the data used to inform access rules and the development of long-term extraction limits.

“Water licences are a long-term investment for people in this valley, they’re a property right and confidence in those licences comes from understanding how the system works,” he said.

Namoi Water said it remains committed to working constructively with government to ensure water management in the region is both environmentally sustainable and practical for local communities.