New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WATER SHARING PLAN FOR THE MACQUARIE AND CUDGEGONG REGULATED RIVERS WATER SOURCE 2016 - REG 47

47 Extraction of water under supplementary water access licences

(1) The taking of water under supplementary water access licences shall only be permitted in accordance with announcements made by the Minister.

(2) The maximum volume that may be taken under supplementary water access licences during each period of time to which an announcement applies may be expressed as a number of megalitres per unit share plus any water allocations traded into the account and minus any water allocations traded out of the account.

(3) Taking of water under supplementary water access licences shall be managed, as far as possible, to evenly share access opportunity amongst all supplementary water access licences.

(4) Taking of water under supplementary water access licences shall only be permitted when flows, including any releases from Burrendong Dam FMZ, are in excess of those required:

(a) under the environmental water provisions specified in Part 3 of this Plan,

(b) to supply domestic and stock rights and native title rights,

(c) to supply higher priority access licence requirements, and

(d) to provide replenishment flows as specified in clause 58.

(5) Extraction of water by supplementary water access licences with extraction components that permit the taking of water from, and downstream of, Burrendong Dam water storage shall only be permitted when flows in the river will produce a flow which exceeds 5,000 ML/day at Warren above the requirements specified in subclause (4).

(6) Extraction of water by supplementary water access licences with extraction components that permit the taking of water upstream of Burrendong Dam water storage in the Cudgegong River shall only be permitted when Burrendong Dam is spilling, flows in the Macquarie River are consistent with subclause (4) and (5) and flows in the Cudgegong River are in excess of those required:

(a) under the environmental water provisions specified in Part 3 of this Plan,

(b) to supply domestic and stock rights and native title rights upstream of Burrendong Dam water storage, and

(c) to supply higher priority access licence requirements upstream of Burrendong Dam water storage.

(7) At the 5 year review of this Plan, the Minister may, under section 45 (1) (b) of the Act vary subclause (5) if it can be demonstrated that there has been no progress on improving the ability to provide regulated flows in excess of 5,000 ML/day at Warren.

(8) Any variation to subclause (5) due to subclause (7) that increases the threshold at specified times shall also alter the threshold at other times so that the long-term access to flows by supplementary water access licences is not impacted as a result of that variation.

(9) The primary factors for demonstrating progress as referred to in subclause (7) are the alteration of structures on the Warren floodplain to permit higher operational flows in that area, and an increased ability to release volumes larger than 8,200 ML/day from the valves of Burrendong Dam.

Note : Clause 48 (7) reviews the progress made in removing identified impediments that limit the management of regulated flow to enhance native fish breeding and dispersal opportunities. If the identified impediments have not been nullified, clause 48 (7) makes available the opportunity to alter the supplementary flow threshold to protect flows that promote the breeding success of the native fish.

(10) The Minister should seek advice from the Environmental Flows Reference Group if established under clause 14 (23) regarding whether or not progress, as described in subclause (9) can be demonstrated, and if so, the appropriate changes to the flow threshold specified in subclause (5) and the time at which they will apply.

(11) In any water year, the holder of a supplementary water access licence may not take more water than that specified in an available water determination made under clause 38.