The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) checked more than 8.8 million megalitres of water entitlements across NSW during the 2023-24 financial year – enough water to fill more than 3.5 million Olympic pools.
The huge number has been revealed as the water regulator tallies the results of its major compliance campaigns for last financial year.
The campaigns targeted key water use areas:
- Overdrawn accounts – looking at water accounts that had gone into negative balance (statewide)
- Irrigated agriculture – focusing on illegal water take or storage for commercial use (Murray-Murrumbidgee, Far North Coast)
- Non-urban metering – concentrating on high-volume high-risk water users who were not compliant with metering regulations (northern and southern inland)
- Improving floodplain connections – focusing on addressing the problem of unapproved floodworks (statewide)
- Monthly meter reporting – which sought better water use reporting by water licence holders in at-risk underground water sources (regions near Moree, Narrabri, Dubbo, Narrandera, Lake Cargelligo and Albury).
The data also shows the regulator scanned tens of thousands of water works and properties/accounts using highly sophisticated satellite, intelligence and remote sensing technology.
With this technology scanning and identifying potential compliance problems, compliance officers were then focused to undertake thousands of detailed desktop assessments and infield follow-up. NRAR officers visited more than 815 properties in 2023-24 related to these programs.
More than 675 investigations and cases stemming from this work are still under way as of 30 June 2024.
NRAR Director Regulatory Initiatives Ian Bernard says reports on each campaign’s results are now on NRAR’s website as part of the agency’s commitment to transparency and building public confidence.
“People can see exactly what we did and why, how we approached the problem and what the results were,” Mr Bernard said.
“The results also highlight the growing capacity and the technological advancements of the regulator to identify potential breaches of water laws and act accordingly,” he said.
“There has never been a higher likelihood of being caught if you do the wrong thing.”
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