New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WATER SHARING PLAN FOR THE UPPER AND LOWER NAMOI GROUNDWATER SOURCES 2003 - REG 29

29 Available water determinations

(1) This Division is made in accordance with section 20 (2) (b) of the Act.

(2) Pursuant to section 58 (4) of the Act this plan amends the relative priorities of the categories of aquifer access licence and supplementary water access licence to the extent necessary to legally make the available water determinations as set out in this clause.

(3) All available water determinations in these groundwater sources shall be expressed as either:

(a) a percentage of the share component for all access licences where share components are specified as megalitres per year, or

(b) megalitres per unit of share component for all access licences where share components are specified as a number of shares.

(4) An available water determination for each category of access licence in each groundwater source should be made at the commencement of each water year.

(5) The available water determinations made at the commencement of the water year for domestic and stock and local water utility access licences should be 100% of share components.

(6) The available water determination made at the commencement of each water year for aquifer access licences should be such that the total of available water determinations for each water source under this clause equals the extraction limit for the water source set in clause 27 (2) minus the total requirements for basic landholder rights, minus the total available water determinations for domestic and stock and local water utility access licences and supplementary water access licences, or such lower amount as results from the operation of clause 28A (3) and subclause (7).

(7) The available water determination for all aquifer access licences in the Zones 6, 9 and 10 will not exceed 1 ML per unit of share component.

(8) The available water determination for Zone 1 at the commencement of this plan and at the commencement of the 2007/08 water year for supplementary water access licences should be 1 ML per unit of share component.

(9) The available water determination for Zone 1 made at the commencement of each year after the 2007/08 water year for supplementary water access licences will be reduced by 0.12 ML per unit of share component each year.

Note: Subclause (8) and (9) means that allocations for supplementary water access licences in Zone 1 will diminish each year by 0.12 ML per unit share after year 2. For example, the available water determination for year 1 is 1.0 ML, year 2 is 1.0 ML, year 3 is 0.88 ML, year 4 is 0.76 ML, year 5 is 0.64 ML, year 6 is 0.52 ML, year 7 is 0.40 ML, year 8 is 0.28 ML and year 9 is 0.16 ML.

(10) The available water determination for Zones 2, 3, 4, and 8 and the Lower Namoi made at the commencement of this plan for supplementary water access licences should be 0.9 ML per unit of share component.

(11) The available water determination for Zones 2, 3, 4, and 8 and the Lower Namoi made at the commencement of each year after the 2006/07 water year for supplementary water access licences will be reduced by a further 0.1 ML per unit of share component each year.

Note: Subclause (10) and (11) means that allocations for supplementary water access licences in Zones 2, 3, 4, 8 and the Lower Namoi will diminish each year by 0.1 ML per unit share. For example, the available water determination for year 1 is 0.9 ML, year 2 is 0.8 ML, year 3 is 0.7 ML, year 4 is 0.6 ML, year 5 is 0.5 ML, year 6 is 0.4 ML, year 7 is 0.3 ML, year 8 is 0.2 ML and year 9 is 0.1 ML.

(12) The available water determination for Zones 5, 11, and 12 made at the commencement of this plan and at the commencement of each water year up to and including the 2009/10 water year for supplementary water access licences should be 1 ML per unit of share component.

(13) The available water determination for Zones 5, 11, and 12 made at the commencement of each year after the 2009/10 water year for supplementary water access licences will be reduced by 0.16 ML per unit of share component each year.

Note: Subclause (12) and (13) means that allocations for supplementary water access licences in Zones 5, 11, and 12 will diminish each year by 0.16 ML per unit share after year 4. For example, the available water determination for year 1 is 1.0 ML, year 2 is 1.0 ML, year 3 is 1.0 ML, year 4 is 1.0 ML, year 5 is 0.84 ML, year 6 is 0.68 ML, year 7 is 0.52 ML, year 8 is 0.36 ML and year 9 is 0.20 ML.

(14) The available water determination for Zone 7 made at the commencement of this plan and at the commencement of each water year up to and including the 2012/13 water year for supplementary water access licences should be 1 ML per unit of share component.

(15) The available water determination for Zone 7 made at the commencement of each year after the 2012/13 water year for supplementary water access licences will be reduced by 0.33 ML per unit of share component each year.

Note: Subclause (14) and (15) means that allocations for supplementary water access licences in Zone 7 will diminish each year by 0.33 ML per unit share after year 7. For example, the available water determination for year 1 is 1.0 ML, year 2 is 1.0 ML, year 3 is 1.0 ML, year 4 is 1.0 ML, year 5 is 1.0 ML, year 6 is 1.0 ML, year 7 is 1.0 ML, year 8 is 0.67 ML and year 9 is 0.34 ML.

(16) The available water determination for supplementary water access licences will be reduced to 0 ML per unit of share component at the commencement of the 2015/16 water year.