The draft NSW Water Management Bill 2000 was released in June 2000 and was open for submissions until the end of August. Its contents caused great concern as it failed to incorporate some of the key policies and proposals of the environment movement. Conservation groups lobbied hard to ensure there would be broader public participation provisions and that clauses relating to the protection of the environment would be strengthened.

The NSW Government established – through policy – water management committees (WMCs) for regulated rivers (flows controlled by dams) as long ago as 1997. The Water Management Bill 2000 would be the first time these committees would be legislated. These committees were given the difficult task of determining what volumes of water would be allowed to pass through the system without being extracted by licensees for irrigation (environmental flows). The purpose of such flows is to assist in recreating natural flow patterns in rivers, to trigger bird and fish breeding events, prevent blue-green algae outbreaks, and to generally ensure the health of the system.

The regional committees have members which are appointed by various interest groups. The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has been responsible for appointing members to represent conservation interests. Currently it is the responsibility of these appointed representatives of interest groups to determine environmental flow rules. This has been an extremely difficult task for these committees, particularly due to the paucity of information regarding how the system is currently functioning with the present extraction rates, and what the ecological requirements and thresholds are for the different rivers.

It is for this reason that policy was developed which provided for the appointment of an independent expert panel to provide scientific and technical advice to management committees regarding determination of water flows for environmental purposes.

NCC developed amendments to the Bill for key areas. These included:

1 the establishment of a hierarchy of Objects which would be significant in the event of possible future judicial review;

2 for the objects of the Act to specifically require the delivery of environmental flows;

3 an independent auditing body to be appointed by the Premier to ensure that water management plans are adequate and are appropriately implemented;

4 water management plans to be in place for a maximum of 5 years;

5 a transparent licensing and approval system with full community involvement for appeals and objections;

6 licenses to be for a maximum of 5 years; and

7 the establishment of an indigenous trust to allow for future water claims under native title.

The following amendments, mostly generated by NCC’s key policies and proposals as outlined above, were tabled and passed by the Legislative Council:

• The establishment of a State Water Management Outcomes Plan (SWMOP) by the Minister. This plan will be a statement of intent from the Minister to the water management committees, and will include desired Statewide targets and benchmarks.

• The initial Bulk Access Regime will be established by a Minister's Plan within 12 months of the assent of the Act for those water sources which are classified as high risk, high stress or high conservation value.

• The requirement of plans to be audited at intervals not more than 5 years by an Audit Panel to ascertain whether the plan's provisions and the Act's water management principles are being adhered to. The audit will allow the Minister to introduce new plans (only with WMC concurrence) with no compensation.

• Reviews of the work and activities carried out by the Department at intervals no longer than every 5 years are to determine whether the Department has been effective in giving effect to the water management principles and the SWMOP. The results of this review are to be published within the annual report.

• Monitoring and reporting requirements which should be imposed as conditions of approvals within an area are to be included as a provision within water management plans.

• The Minister has the ability to establish expert advisory panels to give scientific and technical advice to both the Minister and the water management committees.

• The Act has provided for an increased check-and-balance role for the Minister for the Environment regarding water management plans and setting of the bulk access regime; the NSW Environment Protection Authority has been involved with environmental-flow objectives and water-quality objectives in the past.

• Water-sharing principles in relation to floodplain management have been expanded to consider broader environmental impacts such as soil compaction, water logging and contamination.

• No compensation is claimable at the end of a 10-year plan, and compensation will be based on the market value of the reduced water availability.

• Ensuring that ‘minimal harm’ will be done to the environment with respect to the granting of approvals for certain applications, as opposed to ‘minimising harm’ which is arbitrary and does not allow for the setting of benchmarks.

• Ensuring that ecological impacts of drainage works are assessed.

• A quorum is the majority of members of the Water Advisory Council or a management committee.

• Appropriate limits on the ability of the Irrigation Corporation to sell water to landholders within their area of operations.

• Appropriate limits to the Irrigation Corporation’s powers to enter private property, by requiring officers to provide notification before entering landholders' property.

• The establishment of a register of private drainage-board’s management programs, to be accessible via the Internet.

As a result of the Act there will be a significant amount of work to be done on the ground in the coming year, in a number of planning and management areas. This will include the setting of the bulk access regime and developing the State Water Management Outcomes Plan, which will incorporate targets and benchmarks as well as ensuring that the NSW Government appoints an auditor and an expert advisory panel. There are also numerous regulations which will need to be made as a result of this Act.

Given the breadth and complexity of the issues relevant to this legislation and the amount of energy which was put into this issue through lobbying and campaigning, we feel that the Water Management Act is largely a success. The Act provides for far more extensive provisions, which will result in real environmental protection; the implementation process is open to auditing process; and scientific expertise can be employed to ensure that the needs of the environment are addressed properly. The true test of this legislation will be in its implementation.

Imogen Schoots
Water Project Officer with the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.