The Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association (GVIA) represents in excess of 400 water entitlement holders in the Gwydir Valley.
Our water entitlement holders are some of the most progressive in the world, actively engaged in, and innovating irrigated agriculture. From broadacre crops such as cotton to tree crops such as pecans, oranges and olives, our industry is diverse and productive. We are all acutely aware that reliability of water in the valley is low, and thus strive to Make Every Drop Count for the producer, the community and the environment.
Our vision is for the local irrigation industry, the environment and the Gwydir Valley community to have a secure, vibrant future, with the GVIA recognised as an industry leader.
The Gwydir Valley, centred around the town of Moree in north west NSW is an extremely productive agricultural region. Agriculture employs 20-30% of the population and contributes an estimate 7.8% of NSW’s total agricultural production. Irrigated agriculture is particularly important, contributing significantly to the social and economic wellbeing of the region.
The irrigated olive industry was initiated in the Gwydir Valley over 25 years ago. Olives are a vertically integrated industry
with the nationally recognised Gwydir Grove Olives the largest local producer and processor. In recent years the number of olive
trees has declined as some producers have switched from olives into pecans.
Oranges are a new irrigation industry in the Gwydir Valley, with the majority of the trees planted since 2005. It is currently expanding
with an expected area of 350Ha to be under production by 2020. The citrus industry in the Gwydir Valley is part of the locally owned and vertically
integrated Grove Juice business.
The pecan industry is an important irrigation industry for the Gwydir Valley. Trawalla, owned and operated by Stahmann Farms is the largest
in the region producing approximately 90% of Australia’s pecans. Australia is the fourth largest global producer of pecans. Stahmann Farms operate
the country's only commercial pecan shelling, value-adding and packing plant.
The Gwydir Valley is a diverse broadacre cropping region producing a range of both summer and winter crops. The primary winter crops include; chickpeas,
wheat, barley, and more recently canola. While summer plantings include sorghum, faba beans, mung beans, maize and sunflowers. The majority of the broadacre
cropping area is dryland.
Cotton is the most significant irrigated crop in the Gwydir Valley with an average of 70,000Ha. It is also an important dryland crop with an average of 79,000Ha annually.
The area planted can fluctuate from year to year, being dependant on either available irrigation water and seasonal rainfall.
Lucerne and Hay are niche crops in the Gwydir Valley covering an estimated 4,500Ha. Lucerne is produced primarily on smaller blocks and is irrigated by bore water
entitlements. Hay production includes Lucerne, cereals and pastures.
The turf industry has been a part of the irrigation industry of the Gwydir Valley for almost 20 years, but there are only two producers in the valley. It covers a very small
area of only 20Ha and is irrigated by bore water entitlements. The primary species produced is Buffalo.
The Gwydir Wetlands are a system of terminal delta wetlands, located downstream of the Gwydir River approximately 45kms west of Moree in north west NSW. They are recognised for their
unique vegetation and bird breeding potential. The wetlands are estimated to consist of approximately 6,829Ha of semi-permanent wetland and 77,949Ha of floodplain wetland.
WaterNSW monitor 51 river gauge locations in the Gwydir River and streams(418) using telemetry with data accessible in real time. These sites collect a range of information from flow rate,
discharge volume and river heights and assist WaterNSW in their role of water delivery operators whilst providing an indication of water availability.
All water in the Gwydir is managed by water sharing plans established progressively since 2004. Currently 19% of long term Gwydir river flows and 85% of sustainable yield of the Lower Gwydir
aquifer are available for irrigation. This has been reduced over time following reforms and water recovery for environment.
The are a number of groundwater sources including the Lower Gwydir aquifer used for irrigation and the Great Artesian Basin, including recharge zones. WaterNSW monitor
levels via 26 monitoring sites with data accessible in real time.
Groundwater provides reliable irrigation water, quality drinking water for towns and properties and is one of the region’s major tourism attractions.
Copeton Dam is located on the Gwydir River upstream of Bingara on the north-west slopes of NSW. It is one of the largest inland dams in NSW with a capacity of 1,364,000
megalitres of water. It was initiated in 1966 to provide town water supplies and to boost irrigated agricultural production in the Gwydir Valley.
Please find included the link to the NSWIC December newsletter.
The GVIA work closely with the NSWIC to ensure we are able to advocate as strongly as possible for our members. This partnership will
continue into 2025, and we thank our members for supporting the NSWIC through their levees.
Issues covered in the newsletter include: Water pricing, the National Water Agreement, WSP and MDBA Constraints roadmap.
Included is the link to the 7 News regional from Thursday 9th January, where NSW National Party leader Dougal Saunders and Macquarie Food and Fibre Executive Officer Michael Drum talk about the implications from the proposals to add hundreds of newly prescribed wetlands into unregulated Water Sharing Plans across the state.
The media talks about lack of consultation with landholders, implications for property sales and valuations and the use of remote sensing to identify the sites in question. It raises the need for compensation where there are impacts to landholders ability to run their
businesses.
1 x 38 ML (megalitres) of Lower Gwydir Groundwater allocation for sale. You can bid in price/megalitre by emailing gvia@gvia.org.au before
5pm Thursday 30th January 2025. The buyer will be required to cover the WaterNSW application and dealing fees and the GVIA transaction fee
of $55.00 (Inc GST). Please note as of July 2024, there have been changes to the process for tiaging and assessing groundwater temporary
trades. More
information is available here.
6 January 2025: WaterNSW advises customers on the Gwydir River below Tyreel Weir that demand may exceed channel capacity in mid-January and
throughout the remainder of the irrigation season.
Water demand on the Lower Gwydir recently exceeded delivery capacity, resulting in temporary water delivery shortfalls in lower reaches of
the Gwydir.
Customers are encouraged to extract water only at ordered rates and only ordered volumes.
Whilst current water orders and subsequent delivery forecast does not indicate a return to demand exceeding delivery capacity in the
immediate future, it is anticipated that delivery constraints will occur throughout late January and early February 2025.
Rostering of available channel capacity will occur if a return to demand exceeding available capacity occurs as was last experienced in
January 2018.
For account enquiries please contact 1300 662 077.
More information: Visit WaterInsights to view announcements and sign up for notifications at waterinsights.waternsw.com.au. Issued by: Water Operations North
Today the MDBA have released the Constraints Relaxation Implementation Roadmap. Constraints relaxation were identified as a necessary component to enhance environmental outcomes from water recovery in the original Basin Plan. They were the driving force behind schedule 5
Enhanced environmental outcomes to increase the volume of water resources available for environmental use by 450 GL per year. There will be
challenges for producers in our region. The roadmap states:
"New South Wales is also at an advanced stage in the planning of constraints relaxation implementation in the Gwydir. Engagement with
stakeholders and landholders has identified key issues to delivery that mean full implementation will likely extend beyond December 2026.
The Australian and NSW governments are working together to rescope the Reconnecting Watercourse Country Program to ensure tangible outcomes
are delivered to relax system constraints in the Gwydir by December 2026. In April 2025, NSW will provide an options assessment report to the Commonwealth identifying the preferred delivery option for a rescoped program."
The Draft Gwydir unregulated Water Sharing Plan includes 327 newly prescribed wetlands. If you have one of these on your property, or
neighbouring your property you may wish to put in a submission to the NSW government raising your concerns.
The included template is an example of what you might like to use
in your submission to the NSW Government. Please replace the text highlighted yellow with your thoughts for the wetland you are concerned
about. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact the GVIA on 02 6752 1399.
Anyone can put in a submission, these are due on the 2nd of February 2025.
The following link provides a number of documents, including an interactive map regarding the water sharing plan and the wetlands.
The department are hosting a webinar on the wetlands on Monday 9th December, You can register
here.
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