Temporary restriction on interstate water trade

The NSW Department of Planning and Environment today extended the temporary restriction on interstate water trades into the NSW Murray, Lower Darling and Murrumbidgee regulated river water sources to 30 September 2023, unless repealed earlier.

The temporary restriction is required to protect NSW water users from the risk of reduced water availability. That is, water traded from Victoria or South Australia to NSW could currently spill leaving NSW with a liability to deliver trade water without the matching physical resource. NSW has a finite storage capacity to receive and hold trade water. That capacity is currently small due to high upper Murray storage levels.

Future allocations may also be eroded if trade volumes from interstate continue to accrue while storages are high because undelivered trade water can prevent new inflows from being captured and allocated to NSW water users.

Conditions will be closely monitored, and the order may be repealed before the end of September if NSW storage levels fall sufficiently to create sufficient airspace to safely receive traded water.

For more information, visit the Temporary water restrictions webpage