More than 2,500 groundwater and surface water sites across the Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales will receive state-of-the-art telemetry devices and installation. This program will boost water monitoring and management, ease users’ costs, and help the state fast-track its metering reforms.
Telemetry supports sustainable water use by sending real-time data to water management agencies. It will help ensure that licensed water taken from inland regional water sources is extracted fairly and according to the rules.
“Accurate metering benefits us all – it gives us better information and saves time. That’s why the Australian Government is investing $10.5 million to install 2,515 telemetry devices across NSW Murray-Darling Basin communities,” Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek said. “This is just one part of our commitment to improve transparency of water use across the Basin, to ensure water is used fairly and sustainably to support communities, industry and our environment.”
The Australian Government’s significant investment of $10.5 million will fully fund these devices and install them in eligible sites in NSW over the next two and a half years.
“This program is fantastic news for thousands of water users across the NSW Basin, saving significant out-of-pocket costs and helping them comply with metering rules,” NSW Minister for Water Rose Jackson said. “We’re incredibly pleased to be working with the Australian Government as it injects $10.5 million to roll out these devices in the coming months, boosting our state’s robust metering network and ensuring we can accurately measure each and every drop.
Accurate monitoring is crucial for water resource planning and compliance. Telemetry reduces the need for licence holders to report manually, saving them time and money.
Eligible sites include those extracting from groundwater sources in the Murray-Darling Basin with an annual entitlement of 100 megalitres (ML) or greater. Sites drawing from surface water systems within the Basin may also be considered as a secondary priority.
“We’re primarily targeting groundwater sites across the Basin, recognising that the state’s aquifers are under increasing pressure due to a changing climate, population growth and heightened demand,” Jackson said. “Groundwater-dependent ecosystems are crucial for maintaining the Basin’s biodiversity and ecology, particularly where groundwater may be the only reliable water source.”
The NSW Government is now calling on telemetry equipment suppliers and installers to attend an online tender briefing on 12 February 2025 and to participate in a request for tender via the e-tendering website: NSW Telemetry Uplift Program – buy.nsw
Contracts are expected to be awarded, and installations will begin in the first half of 2025.
In the coming months, the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) will provide more information for water users, including eligibility and application instructions.
The funding comes as NSW continues streamlining its metering rollout and implementing a suite of recommendations to ease water users’ barriers to compliance. These include simplifying metering requirements for smaller and low-risk water users, extending compliance deadlines for coastal water users, addressing the shortage of meter installers and improving their training opportunities and resources, among many others.
NSW is on track to meter 95 per cent of all licensed water entitlements by the end of 2026.
For more information on NSW’s non-urban metering work, visit: https://water.dpie.nsw.gov.au/our-work/nsw-non-urban-water-metering/review-of-the-non-urban-metering-rules
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