NSW release FPH Measurement Strategy
One-step closer to better understanding overland flow
The NSW Government on 6 August released the NSW Floodplain Harvesting Measurement Policy 2020. This announcement provides one of the missing pieces to understand how NSW plan to manage this access under a licencing regime, which is due for implementation by 1 July next year in the Gwydir Valley.
Zara Lowien, Executive Officer of the Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association said we have been calling on the policy for some time, so that water users have due time to meet their obligations.
“The policy is an ambitious program but an important step forward in water management that our local industry has for a long time been committed to achieve.”
“We already have around 20% of the storages in the valley monitored via electronic devices with telemetry as part of their exiting on-farm water management, this policy will require the remaining storages which are used to store overland flow to be progressively measured from July 2021”.
“It’s important we can measure and account for overland flow like all other forms of water and the most practical and effective approach is via storage devices, as all water on a farm ends up here regardless of how it is accessed".
“We fully support this approach, to better account and report overland flow take during a flood event.”
“The way NSW managed the February flood in our region and the mis-informed debate thereafter, clearly highlights, if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it".
"It’s time NSW Government moves forward in improving their management, not just our farmers".
"To help with this, we commit to fast-tracking the achievement of the measurement requirements, provided there is capacity to supply devices and qualified installers” she said.
This announcement is an important piece of the puzzle for NSW in managing overland flow, as they continue to step towards licencing also due in July 2021.
Ms Lowien said “this is a historical take and the last in our region, to be transitioned from the old Water Act (1912) into the current water management framework".
"It's a long awaited process and in completing this 20-year commitment, NSW will have new tools to manage and improved accountability of this important but irregular form of take in our region”.
“Better regulation of overland flow is essential, industry and our community demand it. It will have benefits to farmers and their communities everywhere that rely on a share of these flows”.
“This policy will help to capture the missing facts on what is taken during a flood, giving confidence to the community that everyone receives their fair share of these events, no more or no less and that NSW continues to meet its obligations for the Basin Plan”. She said
For more information see our page on Floodplain Flow and Licencing or the NSW Department of Industry Floodplain Harvesting page.