Water data
Department of Planning and Environment–Water is committed to increasing Water sector transparency by providing open access to relevant data, information products and data models to the community, the sector and industry.
We have developed and maintained models, systems and data over many years to help inform operational activities and decisions about how water resources in NSW are managed.
Open data and information guidelines
This guideline sets out how the department’s Water Group will implement its open by default data and information principle.

Open data framework
We are committed to providing open access to relevant data, information products and data models to the community, the water sector and industry. This will improve the transparency of data in the water sector.

Data sets and systems
Water data on the SEED portal
The SEED (Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data) portal is a central place to discover data that has been shared publicly by the
Spatial Collaboration Portal
The Spatial Collaboration Portal provides a secure platform to facilitate the delivery of NSW spatial datasets.
NSW Government water information webapp
This webapp is designed to make modelling and monitoring information in the state of NSW discoverable.
Environmental Water Register
A search tool to find detailed information on environmental water licences by water sharing plan and/or water source.
WaterInsights Portal
Covers 760 water sources across NSW. The interactive map gives you access to a myriad of information all on one page.
We experienced some degraded data and systems services during the rain event on the weekend of 20 and 21 March 2021. A post incident debrief brought together the lead water agencies to identify recommendations for improvement for future events.
The cause of the outage was identified as an increase in demand for system access and data that put a significant strain on some WaterNSW IT systems that were located within the NSW Department of Planning and Environment ICT environment, coupled with some network connection issues.
It was found that the IT Systems held up to the event and that staff performed well in a challenging situation but areas of improvement were identified.
Report
The Post Flood ICT report makes specific recommendations that are now being implemented by the department.
Download the Post Flood ICT report (PDF. 502 KB)Report
We are committed to continual improvement. We have taken steps to address the recommendations of the debrief following the rain event on the weekend of 20 and 21 March 2021.
Download the Post Flood Review Status report (PDF. 119 KB)Hydrometric Network Review
We have completed a review of our hydrometric networks in the Murray–Darling Basin, in collaboration with WaterNSW.

Historical data
Over the period 1966-1974 the NSW Government undertook investigations and prepared reports into the water resources of 32 valleys in NSW.
