Integrated water strategies program
Long-term strategic planning for water management is critical to a successful climate adaptation response in NSW. The NSW Government has developed a comprehensive, integrated water strategy program designed to improve the security, reliability, quality, and resilience of water resources across NSW.
Over the last 12 months, significant progress has been made to ensure that water resources in NSW are supported by evidence-based, strategic, and integrated management approaches to deliver on our water management strategy actions.
Strategy development and implementation play a crucial role in shaping the future of water management and service delivery. The water strategies program provides a framework for integrated strategic planning and comprises 3 state-wide strategies: NSW Water Strategy, NSW Groundwater Strategy, and NSW Aboriginal Water Strategy, together with 12 regional and 2 metropolitan strategies.
The strategy program sets the long-term strategic direction for water management in NSW and provides a platform for NSW water agencies to work together, with a focus to ensure decisions are based on the latest climate science and data.
As an integrated program, state-wide and place-based strategies align to address high-level priorities with regional solutions. This means strategy actions can be planned and coordinated to efficiently use government and community resources to achieve intended outcomes. Integration also allows the implementation of state-wide strategies to be informed by the evidence and examples that are emerging through our work with communities at the regional level.
Integrated water strategies diagram
The diagram below shows the integration of the planning and reporting process for each of the following documents.
- NSW Water Strategy – sets the objectives and outcomes for water management in NSW and was developed in parallel with regional and metropolitan strategies.
- NSW Groundwater Strategy – provides the state-wide approach to sustainable groundwater management across NSW.
- NSW Aboriginal Water Strategy – co-designed with Aboriginal/First Nations people to identify a program of measures to deliver on First Nation’s water rights and interests in water management.
- Regional water strategies – a suite of catchment-based strategies identifying future challenges along with a package of locally based solutions to address challenges for each region.
- Metropolitan strategies – setting out long term priorities for Greater Sydney and the Lower Hunter regions to ensure sustainable and resilient water for now and into the future.
- Annual Reports on water strategy implementation – provides an overview of strategy implementation achievements for the reporting period and is integral to our commitment for transparency and accountability to our stakeholders (this report).
