Environmental outcomes reporting and data held by other agencies
- As of July 2025, some environmental water deliveries in NSW have been temporarily paused while environmental water licensees, river operators and approval holders ensure they fully comply with the Water Management Act 2000. Read more in the Environmental water deliveries in NSW fact sheet (PDF. 789KB).
- The NSW Environmental Water Manager (CPHR) publishes the environmental watering plans in each catchment and annual reporting on PEW and HEW water use and outcomes–see Water for the environment. Note that the yearly outcomes report also includes subpages for each valley.
- CPHR also publishes additional information for the current water year. This includes a simple summary of total PEW and HEW water use in each valley: Water use in your local catchment. They also publish event information for each catchment: Catchments. These pages are updated frequently, however they are not real-time data sets.
- WaterNSW publishes real-time data on environmental water use on WaterInsights for each water source, under the allocation and historical tabs. Note that this data does not include environmental water usage within water corporations and may change slightly over time as accounts are finalised. may change slightly over time as accounts are finalised.
- WaterNSW also publish daily data on volumes protected under Active Management in the Lower Macquarie and the Barwon-Darling.
- In the Murray Darling Basin, you can find more information on water recovery on the MDBA website and information specifically on use of Commonwealth water on their website. Additional reporting on outcomes arising from the use of environmental water can be found on the following CEWH website: Flow-MER - Environmental Water Monitoring, Evaluation and Research.
Environmental water data
Search registers and view dashboards with environmental entitlements by water source and other categories.
A dashboard for planned environmental water accounts and use in NSW.
Non-environmental water data
The NSW Water Register provides public access to information about water licences, approvals, water trading, water dealings, environmental water and other matters related to water entitlements in NSW.
Search information on any water licences for a fee, similar to the Torrens Title Register.
Frequently asked questions
In August 2025, some environmental water flows in NSW were paused in response to two issues:
- metering compliance: all licensed water extractions in NSW must be metered in accordance with the metering rules in the Water Management (General) Regulation 2025. Some sites used for environmental watering are not yet fitted with compliant metering or measurement equipment.
- water 'take' and licensing requirements: the department identified a risk that delivery of environmental water in NSW, under NSW legal and policy frameworks, may cause water to be 'taken' from a water source otherwise than in accordance with the WM Act.
No. Aside from an unrelated direction provided in relation to Toorale (see below), no directions were provided to environmental water holders or river operators.
Environmental water holders place a high priority on compliance with the law and took proactive, temporary steps to ensure they are compliant.
In NSW (and across all Basin states) water extracted under an access licence from rivers and groundwater sources must be accurately measured using approved metering or measurement equipment, unless exempt. This helps protect water resources and ensures everyone is accountable for their water use.
These metering obligations have been in place for all licence holders since 2018, with the regulations coming into effect for large water users on 1 December 2021.
Under the non-urban metering rules, any work (for example bore, pump or regulator) used to extract water under a licence—including environmental water licences—may be subject to metering requirements.
The department has been working towards compliance with the non-urban metering rules. It has reviewed a total of 714 sites.
As of November 2025, 56 NSW sites where environmental water would normally be delivered do not yet meet these metering requirements, though 11 new meters that have recently been installed at sites in the southern Basin (Millewa Forest and Werai Forest) will soon be fully compliant.
These metering obligations apply to licensed water only. Planned environmental water established under water sharing plans and delivered and accounted for by WaterNSW is not intended to be metered and measured in the same way.
The department is working with the approval holders to install metering or measurement equipment at sites used for environmental watering as quickly as possible to ensure full compliance.
There is a metering implementation plan that outlines how and when measurement equipment will be installed at each site, where alternative measurement approaches will be used or where there are administrative changes required to ensure compliance with the non-urban metering rules.
They are engaging closely with WaterNSW, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, and several partner agencies, as part of this process.
Works commenced in early September 2025 to install meters at 11 sites in the Millewa and Werai forests. These meters have now been installed but they are not yet fully compliant. Important watering events can soon commence at these sites.
Work to install meters on the remaining 45 sites will occur over the coming year.
It's important that environmental water is delivered in accordance with NSW's robust rules and regulations, to ensure water is accounted for and that it is used legally, responsibly and fairly.
It is an offence under the WM Act for a person to take water from a water source without a licence or the benefit of a basic landholder right or exemption.
Whilst reviewing the environmental watering program, including in the context of working towards compliance with the non-urban metering requirements, the department identified a risk that some planned environmental water deliveries may cause water to be taken from a water source not in accordance with the WM Act.
It wasn't intended that this water needed to be licensed, given it is provided for under water sharing plans.
The NSW Government progressed urgent amendments to the Water Management (General) Regulation 2025 to make clear that the delivery of planned environmental water in this manner is exempt from licensing requirements.
The Water Management (General) Regulation 2025, introduced in September 2025, provides an exemption to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, WaterNSW and their agents from the requirement to hold a water access licence to take water from a regulated river when they carry out delivery of:
- planned environmental water
- any other water required to be delivered under relevant laws within the regulated river (for example, WM Act, Water Act 2007 (Cth) and the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement).
This resolves previous uncertainty and ensures that environmental water holders and river operators can continue to deliver water for the environment in line with their obligations and without unnecessary administrative barriers.
On 22 July 2025 the Minister approved drafting amendments to the Water Management (General) Regulation 2025. The amending regulation commenced on 10 September 2025.
No. Many events were unaffected and continued as planned. These include:
- planned and held environmental water from regulated rivers that stays within the same system
- held environmental water delivered from a regulated river into a single unregulated river site.
In addition, rainfall and dam releases for other purposes means water continued flowing in rivers, which benefitted the environment and ecosystems.
Where possible, environmental water events were modified to be compliant so they could be delivered and still achieve ecological outcomes. Some other water events were delayed but commenced after the new regulation was introduced.
Some environmental water deliveries are still paused and will only commence once meters are installed. For the deliveries that have been paused, the impact will vary across valleys.
On 12 September 2025, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder announced its decision to lift the pause on some important watering actions in the Macquarie Marshes and the Murrumbidgee, as well as for planned in-stream, within-channel watering actions in the Barwon–Darling, Lower Darling and Murray.
Some Commonwealth watering actions will remain paused while NSW works to ensure metering compliance or alternative measurement methods are assured for remaining actions.
NSW is also preparing to resume delivering planned environmental water at several sites following the introduction of the new regulation on 10 September 2025.
No. Any legal advice is privileged.
The issue at Toorale relates to how the infrastructure has been operated. NRAR identified that the works approval conditions were not consistent with the take provisions of the WM Act.
NRAR directed that pipes in the western training wall must be opened unless water moving onto the western floodplain is being debited from a water access licence, or the gates at Boera Dam are operated to pass water at the maximum possible flow rate downstream to the Warrego River.
On 1 September 2025, the department issued new works approvals with conditions in line with those in the stop work order. The department is in full compliance with the new conditions and stop work order.
As a result, NRAR's Stop Work Order was no longer in effect, enabling critical environmental watering to resume.