PHOTO: Satellite image of irrigation dam and crops on the Brewarrina property. Image by EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd.
In 2021-22, over 16,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water was overdrawn in NSW. It’s equivalent to the capacity of Oberon Dam, stolen by just 6 per cent of water accounts.
The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) is taking action to reduce the number of water licence holders who extract more than they’re allocated.
“There’s an outdated practice whereby people treat their water accounts like bank accounts, occasionally going into the red by taking more than they’ve been allocated and simply paying it back later,” NRAR Director of Regulatory Initiatives Ian Bernard said…