Public consultation 2024
A draft NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy was on public exhibition from Wednesday 22 May until Sunday 14 July 2024 and has now closed.
For further information visit NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy.
Public consultation 2023
To provide stakeholders with more information and a further opportunity to engage in the process, we released a discussion paper with revised challenges and a climate and hydrological modelling report for the strategies in December 2022.
The opportunity to provide feedback on these took place from October to November 2023.
| Date | Document name |
|---|---|
| 01 December 2022 | Draft NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy: Discussion Paper: Draft regional challenges (PDF, 2.77 MB) |
| 01 December 2022 | Draft NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee Climate and hydrological modelling report (PDF, 4.67 MB) |
What we heard
As was done for the engagement in 2022, engagement outcomes have been consolidated for both regions. Over 60 stakeholders participated in the engagement program and 19 formal submissions were received.
| Date | Document name |
|---|---|
| 01 December 2023 | NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee Regional Water Strategies: What we heard (PDF, 6.09 MB) |
Submissions
The department has collected community and stakeholder submissions for the region along with cultural and general submissions.
Submission 1 - Ricegrowers Association of Australia (PDF 340.7 KB)
Submission 2 (PDF 189.8 KB)
Submission 3 (PDF 590.7 KB)
Submission 4 (PDF 618.8 KB)
Submission 5 - Trevor Clark (PDF 659.9 KB)
Submission 6 (PDF 127.7 KB)
Submission 7 (PDF 398.6 KB)
Submission 8 - National Parks Australia NSW (PDF 653.9 KB)
Submission 9 (PDF 708.6 KB)
Submission 10 (PDF 336.9 KB)
Public consultation 2022
The department sought community feedback on the draft NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy, which considers current and future water needs and water security risks, from 11 April 2022 until 22 May 2022.
This version of the draft strategy was a set of 3 documents:
| Date | Document name |
|---|---|
| 01 September 2020 | Regional water strategies: Guide (PDF, 3.99 MB) |
| 01 April 2022 | Draft NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy (PDF, 32.63 MB) |
| 01 April 2022 | Draft NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy: Long list of options (PDF, 5.33 MB) |
A comprehensive engagement and consultation program accompanied the release of the draft strategy. This included:
- face-to-face meetings
- online webinars
- formal submissions.
What we heard
Given the inter-connectedness of the Murrumbidgee and NSW Murray regions, and the significant overlap in communities and stakeholder groups, engagement outcomes have been consolidated. Across the two regions, over 100 stakeholders participated in the engagement program and 41 formal submissions were received. Key themes that emerged during this consultation include;
- Climate data sets and modelling
- Water security, availability and use
- Environmental health, ecosystems and water quality
- Improving water-related opportunities for Aboriginal people
- Land and water management and planning
- Strategy development and implementation.
| Date | Document name |
|---|---|
| 01 May 2022 | Draft NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee Regional Water Strategies: What We Heard Report (PDF, 16.16 MB) |
Submissions
The department has collected community and stakeholder submissions for the region along with cultural and general submissions.
- Submission 1 Ricegrowers Association of Australia (PDF 524.8 KB)
- Submission 2 NSW Irrigators Council (PDF 366.4 KB)
- Submission 3 Snowy Hydro (PDF 381.3 KB)
- Submission 4 National Parks Association of NSW (PDF 186.4 KB)
- Submission 5 Edward River Pumpers and Landholders (PDF 300.7 KB)
- Submission 6 Murray Valley Private Diverters (PDF 518.8 KB)
- Submission 7 South Western Water User Association (PDF 180.1 KB)
- Submission 8 Inland Rivers Network (PDF 192.2 KB)
- Submission 9 (PDF 346.3 KB)
- Submission 10 Nature Conservation Council and Healthy Rivers Dubbo (PDF 316.3 KB)
- Submission 11 (PDF 67.7 KB)
- Submission 12 Murray Irrigation (PDF 351.5 KB)
- Submission 13 Murray Regional Strategy Group (PDF 5.5 MB)
- Submission 14 Southern Riverina Irrigators (PDF 186.1 KB)
- Submission 15 Wakool River Association (PDF 634.3 KB)
Submissions were used to help refine key water challenges and were also used to progress the development of the draft NSW Murray Regional Water Strategy. The department sought further community feedback on the updated challenges in late-2023.
Next steps
Following public consultation, we will consider the feedback received during community consultation and finalise the strategy by mid 2025. We will also develop an implementation plan that will set out when we plan to commence each action and what we plan to achieve by when.