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Rural Water Metering
State Water and the Department of Water and
Energy (DWE) are jointly responsible for the
development and implementation of NSW Water
Extraction Monitoring Standards to improve the
accuracy of measurement of water extracted in
NSW for irrigation and other purposes.
All
licensed works (pumps/diversions) that use water
for licensed purposes such as stock and
domestic, mining, commercial, industrial and
irrigation must abide by the conditions on the
licences and approvals issued by DWE.
The three main sources of water are:
-
Regulated systems where the surface water is
able to be stored in dams and weirs and
released in a controlled manner depending on
needs.
-
Unregulated systems where the creeks and
rivers that have no structures controlling
downstream flows and users have flow
conditions that control their extraction.
-
Groundwater systems where water is taken from
aquifers or fractured rock normally through
bores.
At this stage those who do not need a licence
are those who qualify as basic right holders
using water for stock watering or domestic
needs.
DWE
is the regulator who issues licences for
non-urban water extractors and are also
responsible for the equitable sharing of the
resource (water) amongst shareholders. This
water sharing is administered by way of the 1912
Water Act or the Water Sharing Plans that have
been developed under the Water Management Act of
2000.
State Water Corporation is the operator which
(under licence) manages the structures and
operation of the regulated systems and billing
for entitlements and usages on all systems. |
