Public consultation 2024
A draft Murrumbidgee Regional Water Strategy was on public exhibition from Wednesday 22 May until Sunday 14 July 2024 and has now closed.
For further information visit Murrumbidgee Regional Water Strategy
Public consultation 2023
To provide stakeholders with more information and a further opportunity to engage in the process we released a discussion paper with revised challenges and a climate and hydrological modelling report for strategies in December 2022.
The opportunity to provide feedback on these reports took place from October to November 2023.
What we heard
As was done for the engagement in 2022, engagement outcomes have been consolidated for both regions. Over 60 stakeholders participated in the engagement program and 19 formal submissions were received.
Submissions
The department has collected community and stakeholder submissions for the region along with cultural and general submissions.
- Submission 1 (PDF 177.9 KB)
- Submission 2 - Ricegrowers Association of Australia (PDF 340.7 KB)
- Submission 3 (PDF 590.7 KB)
- Submission 4 - H.J. Heckendorf and Son (PDF 542.7 KB)
- Submission 5 - Trevor Clark (PDF 659.9 KB)
- Submission 6 (PDF 509.7 KB)
- Submission 7 (PDF 618.8 KB)
- Submission 8 (PDF 127.7 KB)
- Submission 9 (PDF 398.6 KB)
- Submission 10 - Riverina Water (PDF 376.2 KB)
- Submission 11 - Inland Rivers Network (PDF 724.0 KB)
- Submission 12 - National Parks of Australia NSW (PDF 653.9 KB)
- Submission 13 - Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Network (PDF 2.7 MB)
- Submission 14 - Greg Pritchard (PDF 119.4 KB)
- Submission 15 (PDF 238.0 KB)
- Submission 16 (PDF 336.9 KB)
- Submission 17 - ACT and Region Catchment Management Coordination Group (PDF 638.9 KB)
Public consultation 2022
The department sought community feedback on the first draft Murrumbidgee Regional Water Strategy, which considers current and future water needs and water security risks, from 11 April 2022 until 12 May 2022.
This version of the draft strategy was a set of 3 documents:
A comprehensive engagement and consultation program accompanied the release of the draft strategy. This included:
- face-to-face meetings
- online webinars
- formal submissions.
What we heard
Given the inter-connectedness of the NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee regions, and the significant overlap in communities and stakeholder groups, engagement outcomes have been consolidated. Across the two regions, over 100 stakeholders participated in the engagement program and 41 formal submissions were received. Key themes that emerged during this consultation include climate and modelling, water security, environmental and ecosystems health, improving water-related opportunities for Aboriginal people, land and water management and planning, and strategy development and implementation.
Submissions
The department has collected community and stakeholder submissions for the region along with cultural and general submissions.
- Submission 1 (PDF 165.1 KB)
- Submission 2 (PDF 115.0 KB)
- Submission 3 (PDF 395.9 KB)
- Submission 4 Ricegrowers Association of Australia (PDF 534.6 KB)
- Submission 5 Riverina Water (PDF 7.0 MB)
- Submission 6 Griffith Business Chamber (PDF 120.4 KB)
- Submission 7 (PDF 3.7 MB)
- Submission 8 National Parks Association of Australia (PDF 462.3 KB)
- Submission 9 (PDF 3.1 MB)
- Submission 10 Inland Rivers Network (PDF 170.1 KB)
- Submission 11 (PDF 402.2 KB)
- Submission 12 Sandra Williams (PDF 361.2 KB)
- Submission 13 Yass Valley Council (PDF 234.3 KB)
- Submission 14 (PDF 71.2 KB)
- Submission 15 NSW Irrigators Council (PDF 1.5 MB)
- Submission 16 Leeton Shire Council (PDF 189.2 KB)
- Submission 17 Murray Darling Association Region 9 (PDF 228.1 KB)
- Submission 18 Murrumbidgee Valley Food and Fibre Association (PDF 391.1 KB)
- Submission 19 Geoffrey Veneris (PDF 1.5 MB)
- Submission 20 Narrandera Shire Council (PDF 268.9 KB)
- Submission 21 Murrumbidgee Irrigation (PDF 349.7 KB)
- Submission 22 Snowy Hydro (PDF 230.2 KB)
- Submission 23 Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Network (PDF 894.3 KB)
- Submission 24 Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach (PDF 164.6 KB)
- Submission 25 Australian River Restoration Centre (PDF 261.7 KB)
Submissions were used to help refine key water challenges and were also used to progress the development of the draft Murrumbidgee Regional Water Strategy. The department sought further community feedback, on the updated challenges in late 2023.
Next steps
Following public consultation, we will consider the feedback received during community consultation and finalise the strategy by mid 2025. We will also develop an implementation plan that will set out when we plan to commence each action and what we plan to achieve by when.