THE NSW Government is updating specific wetlands in six regional draft water-sharing plans following important community feedback that has been critical in helping improve mapping.
The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is inviting people to view the revised maps and provide further input on the prescribed wetland areas before the water sharing plans are finalised later this year.
The department thanked residents, landholders and stakeholder groups who shared their local knowledge and expertise over the past three months during community consultation for the Gwydir, Namoi-Peel, Macquarie-Wambuul-Bogan, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Barwon-Darling draft unregulated water sharing plans.
The department heard directly from people on the ground, many of whom have lived in the regions their entire lives, which has been invaluable in helping make changes.
Updates at Public Exhibition and Public Comment Sought include mapped wetland areas limited to internationally significant Ramsar listed wetlands, those registered in the Directory of Important Wetlands of Australia, any wetlands already receiving protection in the current water sharing plans and wetlands identified as ecologically and-or culturally significant in previously exhibited floodplain management plans.
These plans are still subject to change through the public consultation period.
The department encourages stakeholders to take a close look at the revised mapping and reach out with any further comments or concerns before 11.59pm on March 23, 2025.
People can also attend a webinar from 12.30pm to 1.30pm on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 to learn more.
The department will carefully consider all feedback and towards finalising the plans by July 1, 2025.
Water sharing plans are incredibly important tools for managing the regions’ water resources.
The draft plans include new protections for significant wetlands and are an important strategy in safeguarding these unique and important environmental assets, and the animals, plants and ecosystems that rely on them.
Wetland maps in six additional plans that came into effect last year will be revisited with additional community consultation scheduled for the second half of 2025.
These include the Intersecting Streams, Border Rivers, Castlereagh, Murray, Lower Murray Darling, and North Western unregulated water sharing plans.
All water sharing plans are independently audited after the first five years to ensure they are working effectively and appropriately.
For more information, and to make a submission on the revised wetland mapping, visit the website Public Exhibition and Public Comment Sought.
“This is a great example of how much we value community feedback and how crucial it is in helping us get our water sharing plans right,” said NSW DCCEEW executive director of Water Planning Giselle Howard
“While we recognise that some of the data that we used for the original wetlands’ maps had not been subjected to rigorous ground truthing, the feedback we received over the extended consultation period was invaluable in highlighting the nature and scale of potential impacts that this may cause to landholders.
“As a result, we were able to fast-track changes to wetland maps and are now going back out to the community four weeks after the initial consultation closed to give everyone another chance to have their say.
“We’ve gone the extra mile to ensure we provide opportunities for people to share feedback, and we thank everyone for being so proactive and generous with their time because it really does help us focus on making sure the information is accurate.
“Now we’re keen to hear from as many residents, farmers, landholders and stakeholders as possible to ensure everyone understands the revised approach and the updated maps are appropriate before we release the final water sharing plans in July this year,” she said.
