Tell the NSW Water Minister to get with the Plan
The NSW Government needs to get with the Plan
Healthy rivers and wetlands are essential for native wildlife, First Nations cultural heritage and local communities. Rivers support a diverse range of industries, from floodplain grazing and food production, to tourism and recreational fishing.
The amazing and unique wetlands of inland NSW support an abundance of wildlife - they deserve to be protected.
Yet the NSW government have allowed decades of unsustainable water extraction and floodplain diversions, putting inland rivers and our amazing internationally significant wetlands under extreme stress.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a world-first across-borders plan to reign in over extraction, and prevent the ecological collapse of the Basin.
Will you ask Minister Anderson to get with the Plan?
NSW is three and a half years late submitting the critical Water Resource Plans needed to make the Basin Plan work.
Hundreds of billions of litres of water are being given away as floodplain harvesting licences, a move that flies in the face of the spirit of the Basin Plan – to leave more water in the rivers so they can survive.
The NSW government insists on using out-of-date rainfall data from last century to work out how much water to release from public dams for use by irrigators. Water is allocated recklessly to maximise profits, putting the environment, First Nations cultural sites and river communities at risk of drying out as climate change fuelled droughts knock at the door.
Will you join us in calling on NSW Water Minister Kevin Anderson to:
- Submit all overdue Water Resources Plans to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and make sure they meet to requirements of the Basin Plan;
- Increase the water flow targets in each valley and at the end of the river systems in the five Water Sharing Plans that include floodplain harvesting rules to protect environmental, social and cultural assets downstream; and
- Update the rainfall data used to calculate how much water is allocated out of public dams to include all recent droughts.
Dear Minister Anderson,
Healthy rivers and wetlands are critical for First Nations cultural values, wildlife, and river communities.
The NSW Government has had over a decade to submit the critical Water Resource Plans to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority in an accreditable format, and yet most of them remain unsubmitted, three and a half years passed their due date.
We, the undersigned, call on the Minister for Lands and Water, and the Minister for the Energy and the Environment to revive inland rivers in NSW and:
- Submit all overdue Water Resources Plans to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and make sure they meet to requirements of the Basin Plan;
- Increase the water flow targets in each valley and at the end of the river systems in the five Water Sharing Plans that include floodplain harvesting rules to protect environmental, social and cultural assets downstream; and
- Update the rainfall data used to calculate how much water is allocated out of public dams to include all recent droughts.