Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated River Water Source Amendment Order 2014 (NSW)

New South Wales

Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated

River Water Source Amendment Order 2014

under the

Water Management Act 2000

I, Kevin Humphries, the Minister for Natural Resources, Lands and Water, in pursuance of section 45 (1) (a) of the Water Management Act 2000, being satisfied it is in the public interest to do so, make the following Order to amend the Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated River Water Source 2002.

Dated this 17th day of September 2014.

KEVIN HUMPHRIES, MP

Minister for Natural Resources, Lands and Water

Explanatory note

This Order is made under section 45 (1) (a) of the Water Management Act 2000. The object of this Order is to amend the Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated River Water Source 2002. The concurrence of the Minister for the Environment was obtained prior to the making of this Order.

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Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated River Water

Source Amendment Order 2014

under the
Water Management Act 2000

1       Name of Order

This Order is the Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated River Water
Source Amendment Order 2014.

2       Commencement

This Order commences on the day on which it is published on the NSW legislation website.

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Schedule 1 Amendment of Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Regulated River
Water Source 2002

[1]      Clause 14 Planned environmental water

Omit clause 14 (d) – (f). Insert instead:

(d)	the passing of the flows referred to in subclause (c) to the Gwydir Wetlands may be curtailed or suspended and redirected to elsewhere in this water source or the Gwydir Unregulated River Water Sources as defined in the Water Sharing Plan for the Gwydir Unregulated and Alluvial Water Sources 2012 to support fundamental ecosystem health as a result of extreme wet conditions if, in the Minister’s opinion, this would not be detrimental to the environmental health of the Gwydir Wetlands,
(e)	the Minister may consider curtailing or suspending and redirecting the flows referred to in paragraph (d) for a period equal to the lesser of 6 months or until 31 August after extreme wet conditions have occurred,
(f)	for the purpose of paragraphs (d) and (e), extreme wet conditions is defined as more than 500,000 megalitres of total flow being recorded at Yarraman Bridge gauge (418004) over the preceding 6 month period,
(g)	advice from relevant Government agencies and the ECA Operations Advisory Committee should be sought before action under subclause (d) is taken.

[2]      Clause 30 Volume of the long-term extraction limit

Omit clause 30 (1) and the notes to the subclause. Insert instead:

(1)  This Plan establishes a long-term extraction limit for this water source being the lesser of:

(a)

the long-term average annual extraction from this water source that would occur with:

(i)	the water storages and water use development that existed in 1999/2000, and
(ii)	the share components in this water source that existed on 1 July 2004, and
(iii)	the rules defined in this Plan as at 1 July 2004, excluding the rules in clause 39, and
(iv)	the application of a limit on supplementary water access licence available water determinations of 1 megalitre per unit share, or

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(b)	the long-term average annual extraction from this water source that would occur under Cap baseline conditions.
Notes.

1          The rules that were defined in this Plan on 1 July 2004 included a 125% limit to the volume of water that may be taken or assigned from regulated river (general security) access licences in this water source in any water year instead of the 300% limit currently specified in clause 33 (a). Those rules also included a rule that permitted the Minister to suspend or temporarily curtail flows from the Horton River, Myall Creek and Halls Creek if this would be environmentally beneficial to the Gwydir Wetlands. This rule, specified in clause 14 (c) – (f), has been amended to allow the Minister to suspend or temporarily curtail these flows if, in the Minister’s opinion, such an action would not be detrimental to the environmental health of the Gwydir Wetlands.

2          An assessment of the long-term average annual extraction that would occur under the conditions specified in subclause (1) (a) has been made using the Gwydir IQQM computer model with system file WSP8TST6.SQQ. This indicates a long-term average annual extraction volume of 392,000 megalitres.

3          An assessment of the long-term average annual extractions resulting from the baseline conditions in subclause (1) (b) has been made using the Gwydir IQQM computer model with system file dv93465a.s6_IQQMV6.61.001. This indicates a long-term average annual extraction volume of 415,000 megalitres.

4          The long-term extraction limit recognises the effect of climatic variability on the availability of water, in accordance with section 20 (2) (c) of the Act as historic climate and river flow information is used in its determination.

[3]      Clause 33 Limit to the volumes that may be taken under or assigned from regulated river (general security) access licences

Omit clause 33 (a). Insert instead:

(a) during any water year, shall be equal to 3 megalitres multiplied by the number of unit shares specified in the share component of the access licence, or such lower amount that may result from clause 32, plus the volume of water allocations assigned to the access licence from another access licence during that water year, and

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