Water

The Upper North Coast Water Management Committee (UNCWMC) is now in the third year of its five year term. Recently the terms of reference changed from a methodical sub-catchment by sub-catchment water management plan to the setting of Bulk Access Rules (BAR) in specific sub-catchments.

The sub-catchments were set by the Dept of Land and Water Conservation and are those which have the most water license holders. Specifically, they are the mid, upper and lower Orara. The Orara has the most pressure on it from Coffs Harbour’s town water supply, numerous license holders and riparian users (now called Domestic and Stock).

The time-frame to set these BARS has been accelerated to August, meaning more meetings and several sub-catchment studies at once. Considering it took this committee two years to set the management plan for the Dorrigo plateau, to complete several in a few months is ludicrous. This committee completed the first plan in the state, so clearly other committees are not moving any faster.

The new Water Management Act states that its priorities are:

  • Environment
  • Domestic and stock
  • Licensees
However, there is no clause controlling pumping for Domestic and Stock users. This means landholders can pump water from any stream, at any time, even if it has ceased to flow, or if town water users are on water restrictions. Given that pumping from a still stream is taking the last water refuge from aquatic life during dry times, the Government is showing no commitment to its stated objective of ‘protecting low flows!’

The new time frame and BAR requirements are seen by environment reps as the real and only goal of the Government, which is to set access rules and not make water catchment management plans. All attempts to determine goals and time frames for riparian vegetation, better farm management practice, storage for all domestic and stock users and drought management plans have been thwarted by DLWC. The environment reps are becoming increasingly cynical about the process and discussions are taking place about a possible walkout. This would be a state-wide Nature Conservation Council rep action with as much publicity as possible.

Not surprisingly, the Nymboida sub-catchment has been omitted from the accelerated BAR planning, meaning all discussion on Northpower’s major extraction (the biggest in the Clarence, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen catchments), has now ceased.

Environmentalists have been consumed in the last few years by ‘participatory processes’, be they vegetation, bushfire, floodplain or water management committees. The cynic might think that it is simply a way of keeping us from doing USEFUL things. Clearly the environment is still seen as expendable, and the token representatives are ignored. Maybe it’s time for ACTION.