New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WATER SHARING PLAN FOR THE CASTLEREAGH RIVER ABOVE BINNAWAY WATER SOURCE 2003 - REG 75

75 Amendment of high flow provisions

(1) The Minister may, under section 45 (1) (b) of the Act and by notice published in the NSW Government Gazette and following verification of the demand for high flow C class extraction in Zones 1 to 5:

(a) establish C class flow categories and thresholds in clause 17,

(b) amend clause 21 to allow for environmental health water to be established in C class,

(c) establish TDELs for C class in Zones 1 to 5 in clause 44,

(d) assign TDELs for C class to categories of access licence in Zones 1 to 5 in clause 45,

(e) vary the unassigned TDEL in clause 47,

(f) recommend conversion factors for the surrender of A class IDEL in exchange for C class IDEL at clause 55, and

(g) recommend conversion factors for the surrender of B class IDEL in exchange for C class IDEL at clause 55.

(2) The verification process identified in subclause (1) should:

(a) only assess the demand for C class extraction by access licences that exist at the commencement of this Plan, and

(b) assess the degree to which objective 3 (to protect or restore a portion of freshes and high flows) of the Water Quality and River Flow Interim Environmental Objectives (NSW Government 1999) is met.

(3) Any establishment of C class under subclause (1) (a) should not result in the B class/C class flow threshold being:

(a) less than 32 ML/day or greater than 64 ML/day in Zone 1,

(b) less than 38 ML/day or greater than 74 ML/day in Zone 2,

(c) less than 14 ML/day or greater than 74 ML/day in Zone 3,

(d) less than 33 ML/day or greater than 121 ML/day in Zone 4, and

(e) less than 18 ML/day or greater than 68 ML/day in Zone 5.

(4) Any establishment of TDELs for C class under subclause (1) (c) should not result in C class TDELs being:

(a) less than 14 ML/day or greater than 24 ML/day in Zone 1,

(b) less than 17 ML/day or greater than 79 ML/day in Zone 2,

(c) less than 5 ML/day or greater than 25 ML/day in Zone 3,

(d) less than 14 ML/day or greater than 47 ML/day in Zone 4, and

(e) less than 8 ML/day or greater than 53 ML/day in Zone 5.

(5) The Minister should cause the verification of the demand for C class extraction in subclause (1) to be undertaken at the same time as the review of this Plan under section 43 (2) of the Act.

(6) In undertaking the verification the Minister should:

(a) consult with the NSW Environment Protection Authority, NSW Fisheries, NSW Agriculture and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and

(b) prepare a report documenting:

(i) the methodology adopted,

(ii) the hypotheses tested,

(iii) the results and conclusions in terms of the degree to which the objective in subclause (2) is met,

(iv) how any C class flow thresholds and/or C class TDELs recommended will meet the objective in subclause (2), and

(v) the socio-economic impacts of recommended changes to the flow level.