As part of its three-point strategy to recover 450 gigalitres of water for the Murray Darling Basin Plan, the federal Government has called for states to put forward their proposals for new water saving infrastructure projects.
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NSW Premier Chris Minns and Water Minister Rose Jackson have said they oppose to buybacks, but they are yet to step up with detail.
The Australian Government plans to deliver the 450GL through three programs after the Restoring our Rivers Act was passed in December last year.
They include the Resilient Rivers Program, Voluntary Water Purchase Program, and the Sustainable Communities Program.
NSW Irrigators' Council CEO Claire Miller said now was the time for the NSW Government to prove it was genuine.
"The Commonwealth is expected to start rolling out its water purchase program soon, possibly even as early as April, so time is running out to provide viable alternatives to water buybacks," Ms Miller said.
"NSWIC and other stakeholders have demonstrated the Basin Plan can be implemented without resorting to buybacks, through water-saving projects and measures that free-up more water for discretionary environmental use.
"It is imperative that (the NSW Government) now puts up infrastructure projects that will recover water without the need for buybacks, to reassure Basin communities it is doing everything it can."
NSWIC's position is that water buybacks are not necessary to find 450GL for the environment, and water recovery must not cause negative socioeconomic impacts on basin towns and communities.
The NSW Government said it was continuing to progress a range of infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects under the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) program which targeted delivery of 605GL of water to the environment as a core component of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
The program seeks to improve the environmental health of waterways, floodplains, and wetlands through 36 separate projects being delivered in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
NSW is the co-proponent for 21 of the 36 SDLAM projects, of which 12 are complete and the other nine are in various stages of delivery.
Works currently underway include:
- Building critical levees, replacing regulators and removing constraints to improve flows in the Koondrook-Perricoota Forest in Southern NSW;
- Improving connectivity between the Murray and Edward Rivers, and other surrounding creeks by constructing new bridges and rock crossings, upgrading levees and access roads, as well as removing barriers to fish movement as part of the Mid-Murray Anabranches Project;
- Restoring and enhancing the river habitat across the interconnected Frenchmans Creek and Carrs, Capitts and Bunberoo Creek systems as part of the Lower Murray: Locks 8 and 9 project.
- Upgrading regulators in the Yanga and Murray Valley (Millewa) National Parks;
- Modernising infrastructure to enable smarter use of water in the Yanco Creek system including replacing water regulators and constructing and restoring fish passages;
- Continuing landholder negotiations across all SDLAM projects including Reconnecting River Country which focuses on relaxing or removing some of the constraints or physical barriers impacting the delivery of water for the environment; and
- Scoping a package of 'no regrets' early works in the Murray and Murrumbidgee downstream of Yarrawonga to be provided to the Commonwealth by the end of May for consideration.
These projects alone are expected to deliver up to 45GL of the 605GL SDLAM target.
Water Minister Rose Jackson said it was great to see the federal Government sticking to the agreement reached in August last year and NSW Government was prioritising ways to recover water towards the 450GL target.
"This includes the Resilient Rivers Program which we have consistently asked for and give us greater leverage to put projects in front of the Australian Government."
