Draft for public exhibition

Water sharing plans are statutory plans made under the Water Management Act 2000 (the WM Act). The rules in the plans allow sharing of water for all water uses, including the environment. The plans have a statutory timeframe of 10 years. The purpose of a water sharing plan is to:

• provide water users with a clear picture of when and how water will be available for extraction
• protect the fundamental environmental health of water sources
• ensure our water sources are sustainably managed in the long term.

The plans clearly define the rules for sharing in the available water in a water source. The WM Act provides irrigators and farmers with continuing or 'perpetual' licences that have a title separate from the land, enabling better water trading opportunities. The plans set out the requirements for these licences and estimates of basic landholder rights – domestic and stock rights, harvestable rights and native title rights.

Water sharing plans support the long-term health of rivers and aquifers by making water available specifically for the environment.

NSW water sharing plans are valid for 10 years and are subject to a review by the Natural Resources Commission (NRC). The responsible minister may extend or replace a plan on consideration of the recommendation from the NRC. 

In 2025, the NRC completed its review of the Water Sharing Plan for the Brunswick Unregulated and Alluvial Water Sources 2016 (Brunswick 2016 plan) and recommended the plan be replaced. The department has prepared a draft replacement plan for consultation – the draft Water Sharing Plan for the Brunswick Unregulated and Alluvial Water Sources 2027. The draft replacement plan includes several proposed changes including some recommended by the NRC.

Stakeholder input is critical to the development of water sharing plans in NSW. We are consulting the community through:

• public information and consultation
• face to face sessions by appointment
• public submissions
• inter-agency consultation.

The plan will be on public exhibition from 31 August to the 26 October 2026. You can have your say by attending the face to face session on 24 September 2026 and completing the submission form available on this webpage.

Water Access Licences show the amount of entitlement that you have – called the share component. This share component can be expressed as ML/year or a number of ‘unit shares’ in the available water source. The amount of water you can take is based on your licensed share component, the available water determination (AWD) and your account management rules and any relevant conditions on your access licence or approvals.

An AWD is made at least on 1 July each year. The AWD sets out a volume of water per share that will be placed into your water allocation account at the start of a water year (1 July) or a % of the entitlement volume if share component is in ML/year. This is called an allocation. You can only take the volume of water that is in your water account, in accordance with the rules in the water sharing plan and any relevant conditions on your access licence and linked water supply work approval(s).

New or additional licence shares or allocations may be acquired through the water market. The plan establishes rules governing the buying and selling of shares and allocations within and between water sources (dealing rules).

There are proposed changes to access rules in the Upper Brunswick River and Lower Brunswick River Water Sources.

For the Upper Brunswick River and Lower Brunswick River water sources new access rules will protect the water sources and dependent ecosystems, protect low flows and a proportion of fresh flows to enable fish migration. The high risks in the Lower Brunswick River Water Source are driven by extraction in the Upper Brunswick Water Source so changing an access rule in the Upper Brunswick Water Source is expected to improve the water source and dependent ecosystem in the Lower Brunswick Water Source. The proposed changes for the Upper Brunswick River Water Source include a:

• pumping restriction of 6 hours/day when flows are greater than 2 ML/day and less than or equal to 6 ML/day (currently 4 ML/day) at the gauge, from November to May
• 24-hour first flush/commence to take rule at 6 ML/day (currently 4 ML/day) following a low flow of 2 ML/day at the gauge, from November to May
• new access rule to enable and enhance the migration of Australian bass and other native fish species. The cease to take limit is proposed to be set at 8 ML/day during the months of June to October.

There are changes proposed to trade rules for permanent trades and allocation trades (temporary trade) to protect ecological and river health of the water sources. No trade is permitted into water sources with high environmental values. 

The proposed changes to trade rules include: 

• Kings Creek: The current rules permit trade into the water source from Mullumbimby Creek, Tyagarah Creek and Upper Brunswick River water sources. It is proposed to also permit trade from Lower Brunswick Water Source. The current rules allow trade into the water source provided entitlement does not exceed 70 ML/yr. The proposed rules allow trade into the water source if it will not cause the total share components of unregulated river access licences in the Kings Creek Water Source to exceed 25 unit shares or cause the sum of the net annual water allocations credited to all water allocation accounts for unregulated river access licences in the water source to exceed 25ML or a lesser amount pending the available water determination. Trade within the water source is permitted, subject to assessment.
• Lower Brunswick: Trade is permitted from the Kings Creek, Mullumbimby Creek, and Upper Brunswick River Water Sources only. The proposed rules allow trade into the water source if it will not cause the total share components of unregulated river access licences in the Lower Brunswick River Water Source to exceed 5 unit shares or cause the sum of the net annual water allocations credited to all water allocation accounts for unregulated river access licences in the water source to exceed 5ML or a lesser amount pending the available water determination. . Trade within the water source is permitted, subject to assessment.
• Lower Marshalls Creek: The current rule permits trade from the Upper Marshalls Creek Water Source. It is proposed to prohibit trade into the water source. Trade within water source is still permitted, subject to assessment. 
• Mullumbimby Creek: The current rules permit trade into the water source from the Kings Creek and Upper Brunswick River water sources. It is proposed to also permit trade from Lower Brunswick Water Source. The current rules allow trade into the water source provided entitlement does not exceed 105 ML/yr. The proposed rules allow trade into the water source if it will not cause the total share components of unregulated river access licences in the Mullumbimby Creek Water Source to exceed 111 unit shares or cause the sum of the net annual water allocations credited to all water allocation accounts for unregulated river access licences in the water source to exceed 111ML or a lesser amount pending the available water determination. Trade within the water source is permitted, subject to assessment.
• Upper Brunswick River: The current rules permit trade into the water source from the Kings Creek and Mullumbimby Creek water sources provided entitlement does not exceed 691 ML/yr. It is proposed to also permit trade from Lower Brunswick Water Source. The proposed rules allow trade into the water source if it will not cause the total share components of unregulated river access licences in the Upper Brunswick River Water Source to exceed to exceed 659 unit shares or cause the sum of the net annual water allocations credited to all water allocation accounts for unregulated river access licences in the water source to exceed 659ML or a lesser amount pending the available water determination. Trade within the water source is permitted, subject to assessment.
• Upper Marshalls Creek: The current rule allows trade into the water source from Lower Marshalls Creek up to total entitlement of 302 ML/year. It is proposed to prohibited trade into this water source. Trade within the water source is permitted, subject to assessment.

For more information about these changes, go to the Background document, and for draft rules for specific water sources, see the public exhibition documents.

The draft replacement plan proposes rules for the minimum distance from areas of acid sulfate soils that groundwater bores can be located. The plan proposes that water supply works must not be granted or amended within an area classed as having a high probability of the occurrence of acid sulfate soils on acid sulfate soil risk maps maintained by the department.

The draft replacement plan also proposes rules for the minimum distance that groundwater bores must be located from sites of contamination. The plan proposes that new or amended water supply works will not be granted: 

• within 500 metres of a contamination site identified by the plan
• within 250 metres from the edge of a contamination plume and an onsite sewage system
• between 250 and 500 metres of the edge of a contamination plume where drawdown will occur within 250 metres of the edge of the contamination plume. 

New rules regarding the minimum distance that a groundwater bore may be located from a groundwater-dependent, culturally significant site are also proposed. New or amended water supply works will not be granted within the following distances of a groundwater-dependent culturally significant site: 

• 100 metres, if the bore is for basic landholder rights bores
• 200 metres, for all other bores. 

Distance rules for new bores near existing bores on neighbouring properties are proposed to change. Distance restrictions in the Brunswick 2016 plan were smaller than other coastal water sharing plans. To prevent impacts to bores on neighbouring properties, standard distances will be applied:

• 200 metres from a bore on a neighbouring property (whether is used solely for basic landholder rights or licenced extraction)
• 100 metres from the boundary of another property which has a bore, unless written consent has been provided from the licence holder of the bore on the neighbouring property.

We have updated the estimated water requirements for basic landholder rights. We have also updated the total volumes or unit shares specified in the share components of all access licences to reflect current information. 

We have created a new extraction management unit (EMU)– the Brunswick Coastal Floodplain Alluvial Extraction Management Unit. This is to enable management of extraction to an annual extraction limit using a consistent framework to the rest of the plan area. The boundary of the new EMU is shown on the draft Brunswick Plan Map and is the same boundary of the Coastal Floodplain Alluvial Groundwater Source.
 

We need to ensure water is shared sustainably across the regions, especially as demand for resources grow. 

The long-term average annual extraction limit (LTAAEL) limits total extractions from specified water sources over the long term.

The NRC recommended that this extraction limit should be sustainable or at least set at a fixed numerical value to limit growth-in-use and enable compliance. This is the Standard LTAAEL. This ensures that extraction will be no more than could occur at the commencement of the first water sharing plan.

Including a numeric LTAAEL in the Brunswick Plan will reduce the risk of over extraction in a water source by providing more transparency about the volume of water that is allowed to be extracted for all stakeholders. 

It will also allow the department to manage any potential growth-in-use in unregulated water sources and to show this is a simpler way for stakeholders over time.

The LTAAEL for Brunswick River Catchment EMU has been split into 2 components: 

• a Standard LTAAEL for take from all flows and 
• a Higher flow LTAAEL for extraction that can only occur from higher flows. 
• The Standard LTAAEL has been fixed and includes harvestable rights at the commencement of the current Brunswick 2016 plan.

The Higher flow LTAAEL is the maximum sum of share components of higher flow licences in the Brunswick River Catchment EMU during a water year. At this stage the plan prohibits high flow conversions licences and Aboriginal Community Development Licenses (ACDLs) due to lack of gauging and water available. There also has been no interest in the uptake of the previous ACDLs in water sources during higher flows. There is an ability to amend the standard LTAAEL, once the sustainable water sharing project is complete.

An LTAAEL for the Brunswick River Coastal Floodplain Alluvial Extraction Management Unit has been added, which is equal to 25% of rainfall recharge. This is based on environmental and socio-economic risks which identified 75% of rainfall recharge should be planned environmental water.

Aboriginal Community Development Licences (ACDLs) can only extract from high flows. The data from the Durrumbul gauge, station number 202001, in the Upper Brunswick River Water Source, indicates that high flows, are only a small volume of water - 7 ML/day. This is being prioritised for the environment in line with the Water Sharing Principles of the WM Act.

During the replacement process we reviewed access rules for all high-risk water sources using the best available information. However, in some water sources we did not propose changes due to insufficient information. 

For example, there is only one gauge in the Brunswick Plan area in the Upper Brunswick River Water Source with sufficient long-term data to allow for confidence in using flow records.

Current policy prohibits new in-river dams from being constructed in third or higher order streams in water sources with high instream value. 

We have reviewed these water sources using updated data from a new risk assessment. 
The plan prohibits in-river dams in third or higher order streams in all 9 surface water sources to provide greater protection upstream of and/or directly adjacent to water sources that influence the Cape Byron Marine Park and Intermittently Closed and Opening Lakes and Lagoons (ICOLs).

There have been updates to metering rules with the rollout of the non-urban metering framework. For water users in the Brunswick WSP area water sources the following rules will apply.

• Works that are nominated by total entitlement of 100 ML or more must have a pattern-approved meter, Local Intelligence Device (LID) and telemetry, installed and validated by a duly qualified person (DQP) by 1 December 2026. 
• Surface water pumps of 500 mm diameter or more in coastal water sources must already have a pattern-approved meter, LID and telemetry, installed and validated by a DQP.
• Works that are nominated by total entitlement of more than 15 ML and less than 100 ML must have a pattern-approved meter installed by 1 December 2027 or their approval renewal date (whichever is the later).
• Works that are nominated by total entitlement of 15 ML or less, surface water pumps of less than 100 mm diameter, and groundwater pumps of less than 200 mm diameter are not required to meter unless they are used for trading of entitlement.
• Regardless of the metering requirements, all licensed water users must already meet mandatory recording and reporting obligations.
• Make an appointment with a WaterNSW metering expert to discuss your metering requirements on 1300 662 077 (Monday to Friday 8am – 5pm), or email customer.helpdesk@waternsw.com.au

For further information visit Non-urban metering for water users.

We are holding a webinar on Tuesday 15 September from 1pm to 2pm, where the community can learn more and provide feedback.

A face-to-face meeting will be held on Thursday 24 September in Mullumbimby from 10am to 2pm. People can book a session with a water planner during this time.
For more information email water.enquiries@dcceew.nsw.gov.au or phone on 1300 081 047.

We will carefully consider all feedback provided, which will help us finalise the plan before it is in effect on 1 July 2027. Feedback provides important information that helps ensure rules are practical and implementable. The department will publish a ‘What we heard’ report which outlines key issues raised in submissions and other feedback provided during the public exhibition period.