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Media Release - Department of Water and Energy Date: 3 July 2008 FLOODPLAIN HARVESTING POLICY TO PROVIDE SECURITY FOR NSW RIVERS AND COMMUNITIES The Iemma government is moving to provide greater security for the health of our river systems, their environment and the communities who rely on them.
NSW Water Minister Nathan Rees and the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Verity Firth today announced a new draft Floodplain Harvesting Policy during a tour of the Macquarie Marshes in Western NSW.
The Policy aims to put a stop to the unconstrained harvesting of flood waters.
From today, approval will not be given to construct any new works such as levees, dams and channels that capture passing floodwaters.
Unconstrained harvesting of water from the floodplains reduces the amount of floodwater reaching or returning to rivers, wetlands and groundwater.
It also erodes the reliability of water supply to downstream users and undermines fair and legal access to these floodwaters.
The Iemma Government is taking these necessary measures to protect these floodwaters and natural flow patterns.
The record drought has highlighted the need to ensure that harvesting of all water is done in the most appropriate and sustainable manner.
The policy will look at the types and capacity of floodplain harvesting activities, the volumes of water being extracted and the potential impacts on associated riverine ecosystems and downstream users.
Under the new draft Policy, the amount of floodwater available for commercial extraction will be capped and shared amongst existing users who will have to get a Floodplain Harvesting Access Licence.
It would be inappropriate for any of this water to be assigned to additional works constructed after today, as it would reduce the share of floodplain harvesting water for existing users.
Works such as levees, banks and diversion channels already need approval from the NSW Government before construction begins. But from today, under this new policy, no additional works will be considered for approval to take floodplain water.
Landholders will be required to show that approval applications have already been submitted for existing works that capture floodplain waters. These include storages, water supply channels, pumps and pipelines that are able to undertake floodplain harvesting in NSW.
It is emphasised that the new draft Policy relates to water flowing across a floodplain that is not covered by other licences or landholder rights.
We are certainly not banning hillside farm dams.
In NSW, under harvestable rights limits, landholders can capture and store 10 per cent of the rainfall runoff on their property without a licence.
Consultation on the new draft Policy will commence soon to ensure a balanced outcome that serves the needs of our rural and regional communities and the health of our rivers, wetlands and floodplains.
But the days of unrestricted capturing of the floodwaters flowing down NSW rivers are over. This is a resource that should be shared fairly and in a balanced way between the environment, legitimate users and the communities along our rivers.
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