Water meetings library

Response to the Independent Panel’s final report

The NSW Government’s Response to the Independent Panel’s final report into the management of the 2020 northern Murray-Darling Basin first flush event is now available. A water user reference group was set up to provide advice to the Panel, particularly on improvements to communications with water users and the public.

Visit Northern Basin First Flush Assessment for more information, see 'Water User Reference Group' for the meeting communiqués.

Stakeholder Advisory Panel meetings

A central element of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program is a partnership approach which aims to recognise and leverage the wealth of expertise within councils, local water utilities and relevant government agencies. The team will utilise the Stakeholder Advisory Panel (the Panel) to advise, help design, facilitate and refine the program and to identify broader engagement opportunities. The Panel meeting dates for 2021 are listed on this page. Meeting minutes are made available for download after each meeting.

Visit Stakeholder Advisory Panel for more information.

Critical Water Advisory Panels meetings

Critical Water Advisory Panels will be established when the criticality level of an extreme event is declared at Stage 3 or above for surface water, and stage 3 or above for groundwater. Critical Water Advisory Panels were established for the Barwon-Darling / Lower Darling Rivers in March 2018, for the Northern Inland Regulated River Valleys in July 2018, the Southern Inland Regulated River Valleys in June 2019 and the Hunter Valley in February 2020. Meeting communiques can be found on this page for each corresponding Panel.

Visit Critical Water Advisory Panels for more information.

Drought information sessions—previous consultation

During 2019 and 2020, the department together with WaterNSW, held a series of public information session across drought affected areas of the state. These sessions provided an update on water availability, climatic trends and storage levels.

Visit Drought information sessions for more information.

What we heard report

The NSW Government is introducing new reporting rules for some metered non-urban water users on 1 March 2021. This follows the public exhibition of draft amendments to the Water Management (General) Regulation 2018.

Visit New reporting rules or download the report for more information.

NSW Water Strategy—recordings of webinar sessions

Two live public webinars took place providing an overview of the development of the draft strategy, its priorities, the timelines for the final strategy and more information about the submission process.

Download or watch the webinar presentations.

• Watch the recording of the webinar–25 February
• Watch the recording of the webinar–15 March
• Webinar presentation (PDF, 2086.46 KB)

Water sharing plans—audit reports

Section 44 of the Water Management Act 2000 requires water sharing plans to be audited. The purpose of an audit is to ascertain whether a plan’s provisions are being put into practice. Audits covering the period from 2015 to 2018 have been completed under the direction of an Independent Panel. Work is underway to address issues and recommendations identified in the audit reports.

Read the copies of the independent audit reports covering water sharing plans 2015-18.

Healthy Floodplains—consultations and outcomes

In February and March 2021, a series of roadshow sessions took place to inform stakeholders about floodplain harvesting measurement and non-urban water metering policy and regulations. Five sessions were held across the NSW northern Basin including Dubbo, Narrabri, Walgett, Goondiwindi and Moree.

Visit Stakeholder engagement–Outcomes to download or read the Floodplain Harvesting Measurement and Non-Urban Metering Roadshow Consultation Outcomes Report.

Snowy River—Snowy Advisory Committee

In July 2018, the Minister for Regional Water appointed the Snowy Advisory Committee to provide expert and community input to the design of environmental flows to the Snowy River and Snowy montane rivers. In February 2019, the committee provided its first formal advice for the delivery of water in the 2019/20 Snowy water year, which covers the period 1 May 2019 to 30 April 2020.

For more information or to download the meeting communiques, visit the Snowy Advisory Committee.

Water Engagement Roundtable

In December 2021 the department held the first Water Engagement Roundtable, bringing together a wide range of peak stakeholders, both community and government, to initiate a broader conversation and mutual understanding of the future of our community engagement work.

These ongoing conversations aim to develop and maintain continued relationships, establish effective and preferred channels of communication, and identify any potential opportunities to improve shared outcomes of water policy, planning and delivery.

We plan to continue these meetings in 2022.

Download the What we Heard report PDF, 176.24 KB

Coastal Stakeholder Engagement Meetings

In September 2021 the department began meeting with key stakeholders in coastal regions to initiate a broader conversation and shared understanding of the future of our community engagement work.

These meetings aim to identify and understand the most effective and preferred methods or channels of engagement and communication of water policy, planning and delivery, as well as identify opportunities to better partner with communities and organisations to achieve shared outcomes.

Download the North Coast What we heard report (PDF, 197.28 KB).

Download the Far North Coast What we heard report, August 2022 (PDF, 161.58 KB).

Coastal floodplains drainage project ‘What We Heard’ report

In 2020 and 2021, a NSW Government interagency group led by the Department of Planning and Environment’s Water Group consulted with local councils and peak bodies on the issues relating to drainage on coastal floodplains. The ‘What We Heard’ report summarises what we heard during these consultations. This is part of a project that contributes to implementation of the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy 2018-2028. We are now developing options to respond to the issues raised by stakeholders and will be engaging further on these during 2023.

Download the report (PDF, 4031.28 KB).