The New South Wales Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (NSW DCCEEW) is inviting the community and stakeholders to learn more about proposed new regulatory changes as the NSW Government begins taking the first steps towards implementing a suite of recommendations to fast-track non-urban metering reforms.
The recommendations outline clear and practical ways to boost compliance rates and ensure water extraction is measured and managed fairly across the state.
“These changes are a huge step forward, enabling us to accelerate metering compliance across the state,” NSW DCCEEW Director of Metering and Licensing Dan Connor said. “Measuring water take is critical to managing water fairly and sustainably, and we’re keen to get on with the job to ensure every drop is accounted for.
To speed up the roll-out, the NSW Government is proposing changes to the Water Management (General) Regulation 2018 that will:
- Simplify metering requirements for smaller and low-risk water users
- Establish a classification system for work approvals so that only those works taking licensed water are required to be metered
- Extend compliance deadlines for smaller water users and most Coastal water users
- Address the shortage of duly qualified persons (DQPs) for meter installation and improve training opportunities
- Extend meter re-validation timeline from 5 to 10 years after initial installation and every 5 years after that
- Make floodplain harvesting measurement more practical, and water use more flexible while ensuring all take is appropriately measured
These changes aim to put the state on track to have 95 per cent of all licensed water take metered by the end of 2026—about a decade sooner than previously projected—and help the NSW Government make faster progress towards its Murray Darling Basin Compliance Compact commitments.
It comes after the NSW Government conducted a comprehensive review of the current program in 2023, identifying several roadblocks to compliance.
These included a statewide shortage of qualified personnel to install meters, inconsistent or inflexible metering rules, challenges with emerging technologies, and high costs for smaller users.
“We want to support water users on their path to compliance and remove as many hurdles as possible,” said Connor. “These changes aim to better protect our precious water resources and ensure fair and sustainable water management for the people of NSW.”
While they were progressing with a clear ‘no measurement, no pump’ approach, the reforms were unlikely to achieve comprehensive coverage until at least 2040, which is unacceptable.
NSW DCCEEW encourages the community to learn more about the amendments via two online webinars on Thursday, 21 November and Tuesday 3 December, at 12-1 pm, where they can ask questions and provide feedback before the public exhibition period closes on 8 December.
It will carefully consider all feedback before the Regulation is amended in early 2025.
For more information, visit: Review of the Non-urban metering rules.
Related Articles:
- Flushing out wastewater woes with IoT
- Revolutionising water data management with qldwater
- The case for smart metering: focused, scalable, and sustainable