Summary of current water allocations

Below are tables summarising current water allocations for regulated river, unregulated river and groundwater water sources.

View a valley-by-valley comparison of dam storage levels and the opening allocations for 1 July 2019 and 2020.

Allocations that are normally expressed in megalitres per unit share – for example high security, general security and aquifer access – are expressed in the tables below as percentages. One megalitre (ML) per unit share equates to 100% allocation, whereas 0.05 ML per share equates to 5% allocation.

Tables for the unregulated rivers and groundwater sources report by exception, that is, only those water source licence categories that did not receive full allocations are listed.

Carryover water

Water users may have access to unused water in their account carried over from the previous year. Carryover rules vary between water sources and between licence categories. Towns, domestic and stock, and most high security licence categories cannot carryover.

Drought stage

The current drought stage for each inland river valley is included in the table. These range from Stage 1 (Normal operations) to Stage 4 (Critical drought). The drought stage is determined in accordance with the critical trigger levels outlined in incident response guides (IRGs) developed by the department. Further information on the IRGs is available at extreme events.

Drought stage per water source

Water source	System type*	Drought stage	Date of last stage change
Lower Darling	Regulated river	Stage 2	May 2020
Barwon-Darling	Unregulated river	Stage 2	May 2020
Lower Namoi	Regulated river	Stage 3	March 2020
Upper Namoi	Regulated river	Stage 2	May 2020
Macquarie	Regulated river	Stage 1	September 2020
Cudgegong	Regulated river	Stage 1	August 2020
Gwydir	Regulated river	Stage 2	April 2020
NSW Border Rivers	Regulated river	Stage 2	August 2020
Belubula	Regulated river	Stage 2	October 2020
Peel	Regulated river	Stage 3	September 2020
Lachlan	Regulated river	Stage 1	September 2020
Murray	Regulated river	Stage 1	August 2020
Murrumbidgee	Regulated river	Stage 1	August 2019
Hunter	Regulated river	Stage 1	August 2020
Richmond	Regulated river	Stage 1	February 2020
Bega/Brogo	Regulated river	Stage 1	February 2020

* System type refers to regulated river, unregulated river or groundwater.

Current allocations - regulated rivers

River valley	Allocations 2020-21	Licence category	Date of last allocation increase
Murray*	26%	General security	15 October 2020
	97%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Lower Darling*	30%	General security	1 July 2020
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Murrumbidgee*	54%	General security	15 October 2020
	95%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Lachlan*	32%	General security	7 October 2020
	100%	High security	10 August 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Belubula*	0%	General security	21 December 2016
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
Macquarie and Cudgegong*	18%	General security	13 October 2020
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	High security (sub categories)	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Lower Namoi*	5.6%	General security	7 October 2020
	100%	High security	8 September 2020
	100%	High security (sub categories)	8 September 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Upper Namoi*	50%	General security	7 October 2020
	100%	High security	8 September 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Peel	0%	General security	4 October 2018
	50%	High security	1 July 2020
	70%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	70%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Gwydir*	5.07%	General security	8 October 2020
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
NSW Border Rivers*	23.3%	General security A Class	16 October 2020
	0%	General security B Class	31 January 2018
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Richmond	100%	General security	1 July 2020
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Paterson*	100%	General security	1 July 2020
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Hunter*	53%	General security	17 August 2020
	100%	High security	17 August 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020
Bega Brogo	40%	General security	1 July 2020
	100%	High security	1 July 2020
	100%	Domestic and stock	1 July 2020
	100%	Local water utilities	1 July 2020

* Carryover water may also be available subject to s324 restrictions in some valleys.

Current allocations - unregulated rivers

River valley	Current allocation (2020-21) water year	Licence category	Date of allocation
All unregulated river water sources*	Full allocations	All categories	1 July 2020
Campbells River Water Source (Campbells River Downstream Management Zone) Burrendong Water Source (Macquarie River above Bathurst Management Zone) Fish River Water Source (Lake Oberon to Macquarie River Confluence)	20%	Unregulated River access licences	1 July 2020

* Carryover water may also be available, according to water sharing plan subject to s324 restrictions in the Barwon-Darling unregulated river water sources.

Current allocations - groundwater*

River valley	Current allocation (2020-21) water year	Water source / licence category	Date of allocation
Eastern Recharge (NSW Great Artesian Basin)	25%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
Peel Alluvium	51%	Aquifer (general security) access	1 July 2020
Murrumbidgee Unregulated and Alluvial (Gundagai Alluvial Groundwater Source)	98.4%	Aquifer (high security) access	1 July 2020
Lachlan Unregulated and Alluvial (Belubula Valley Alluvial Groundwater Source)	100%	Aquifer (high security) access	1 July 2020
Lower Lachlan Groundwater Source	100%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
Lower Murrumbidgee (Deep)	65%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
Macquarie Bogan Unregulated and Alluvial (Cudgegong Alluvial Groundwater Source)	100%	Aquifer (high security) access	1 July 2020
Namoi Unregulated and Alluvial (Manilla Alluvial Groundwater Sources)	85%	Aquifer (general security) access	1 July 2020
Upper Namoi Zone 1, Borambil Creek	230%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
Upper Namoi Zone 2, Cox’s Creek (Mullaley to Boggabri)	100%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
Upper Namoi Zone 5, Namoi Valley (Gin’s Leap to Narrabri)	100%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
Upper Namoi Zone 8, Mooki Valley (Quirindi-Pine Ridge Road to Breeza)	100%	Aquifer access	1 July 2020
All other groundwater sources	100%	All other licence categories	1 July 2020

* Carryover water may also be available, according to water sharing plan.