This draft Western Regional Water Strategy is on public exhibition from Wednesday, 1 June until Wednesday, 13 July 2022.
The draft Western Regional Water Strategy is being consulted on together with the amendments to the Barwon–Darling Water Sharing Plan and the licensing and regulation of floodplain harvesting in the region. Visit Water management in the far west for more information.
You can have your say on the draft strategy by providing written feedback to the Department of Planning and Environment by midnight Wednesday 13 July 2022.
Please note that all submissions will be published on the department’s website unless you let us know in your submission that you do not wish for the content to be released.
Overview
The NSW Government is preparing regional water strategies that will bring together the best and latest climate evidence with a wide range of tools and solutions to plan and manage the water needs of NSW over the next 20 to 40 years.
A long-term regional water strategy is being developed to guide how the NSW Government can best address regional water–related challenges to support a liveable and prosperous NSW Western region.
We have prepared this draft strategy to continue our discussions with you about the future management of water in your community. It has been prepared in consultation with local councils and Aboriginal communities.
We want to know about the opportunities and challenges you see and how you think they should be addressed. We are also seeking your feedback on the options presented in the draft strategy and whether you have any further information that could help us to assess the benefits and disadvantages of any of the options.
Download a high resolution version of the Western Key Statistics Snapshot (JPG, 2103.93 KB).
Draft strategy and background information
The draft Western Regional Water Strategy is a set of 6 documents:
- Draft Western Regional Water Strategy Consultation Paper (PDF, 29916.88 KB)
- Attachment A: Background on the Western region, its water resources and climate (PDF, 41492.24 KB)
- Attachment B: Long list of options (PDF, 16295.04 KB)
- Attachment C: What we heard through targeted stakeholder engagement (PDF, 1061.34 KB)
- Attachment D: North-West Flow Plan discussion paper (PDF, 1325.54 KB)
- Attachment E: Critical dry condition triggers to reduce risk to environmental and human water needs discussion paper (PDF, 1437.74 KB)
Additional documents:
Make a submission
We would like to know your thoughts on the draft strategy. If you would like to make an official online submission, please click on the 'Have your say' button below or;
Have your say by downloading the submission form and send to email regionalwater.strategies@dpie.nsw.gov.au.
Submissions will be accepted from Wednesday, 1 June 2022 until midnight Wednesday, 13 July 2022.
Public information sessions
A webinar was held on 6 June 2022. This provided an overview of the draft Western Regional Water Strategy, the Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan and Floodplain Harvesting. The webinar recording can be found here along with the presentation (PDF, 1739.59 KB).
We are also coming to your region to discuss the strategy. If you would like to attend a face-to-face information session, please refer to the information below. A discussion about the Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan and Floodplain Harvesting will be held in the afternoon at the same venues below.
| Online | Details | Register for the event |
|---|---|---|
| Webinar | Monday, 6 June 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm | |
| Public information sessions | Details | |
| Menindee | Wednesday, 15 June | |
| Walgett | Tuesday, 28 June | |
| Bourke | Thursday, 30 June |
Contact us
Please email regionalwater.strategies@dpie.nsw.gov.au if you would like further details about our information sessions.
Next steps
We are working with communities across the state in a six-step approach to prepare and implement the Western Regional Water Strategy. Following public consultation, we will develop an implementation plan that will set out when we plan to commence each action and what we plan to achieve by when. The implementation plan will also identify key partners in effectively delivering these actions, including local councils, other government agencies, local community groups and local Aboriginal communities.
Not all actions will be commenced at once, and funding will be a key consideration in planning when and how the actions will be implemented. The regional water strategies will be a key tool in securing funding as future opportunities arise.
