Coastal farmers in New South Wales will soon be able to capture 30 per cent of the rain that falls on their properties, in what the state government is calling a "historic step" towards preparing landholders for future drought and bushfires.
Minister for Water Melinda Pavey said coastal farmers and landholders were previously allowed to store just 10 per cent of the water on their farms.
"There was a unilateral change in 1999 that said that farmers could only take 10 per cent of the water on their farms across the state," she said.
Ms Pavey said being able to harvest more water will ensure eligible farmers are more prepared for dry spells and bushfires.
"We saw with the bushfires we had lots of dams that were empty that we couldn't even put helicopters in to take out water to put out the fires," she said.
The new rules will only be allowed on first or second-order streams and will come into effect in early 2022 and will be monitored by the Natural Resources Access Regulator.
Farmers welcome the change
On-farm sustainability manager with Bega Cheese Melissa Balas says this is a significant increase for farmers on the south coast.
"It's good news, it's something we've desperately needed for a long time, and it will take a lot of pressure off farmers who struggled during the drought," she said.
Ms Balas said the increase would benefit farmers on the south coast, where dairy and beef farmers ran out of water back in 2019.
"A 200-acre property, under the 10 per cent you could potentially have a 6-megalitre dam."
Director of lobby group Dairy Connect Terry Toohey also welcomes the increase but fears it may not be enough.
"It's one good step forward, it's still probably not considered enough to enable farmers to spend the money on more infrastructure to capture that water," he said.
Mr Toohey said farms in high rainfall areas should be able to capture more water, particularly in wetter months.
"I understand we've got to work with the environment ... But ideally, 50 per cent would be more reasonable for high rainfall areas like the north coast," Mr Toohey said.
Conservation council concerned
Nature Conservation Council chief executive Chris Gambian said tripling coastal water harvesting rights puts coastal rivers, lakes and communities at risk.
"I think a 300 per cent increase in the amount [of water] that can be taken from rainfall, really needs to be backed up with some scientific analysis," he said.
"My question [to the government] is how do you ensure that you're not over-extracting from coastal rivers to a point where people and farmers downstream are going to have a worse situation than they've currently got?"
Ms Pavey said landholders will have to consult their local councils and submit development applications to build more dams on their property.
Ms Pavey said the state government will be undertaking detailed assessments of each individual coastal catchment over the next year to confirm the new limit is appropriate at a local level.
