A proposed regulatory change aims to provide more immediate access to water for landholders, improving response time in an emergency fire situation.

The NSW Government released the “What We Heard” report after receiving community feedback on a landmark proposal to improve access to water by landholders for bushfire preparedness and firefighting needs. 

The statewide review explored if changes should be made to allow individual property owners to take small volumes of water from local rivers and bores to prepare for and fight bushfires. 

Currently, only rural fire brigades and their workers are permitted to draw from a water source to extinguish or control a fire without a license. Landowners are only allowed to do so if there is an emergency and they have received a lawful direction from an authorised officer. 

Luke Robinson, District Manager of the RFS in Coonamble said proposed changes could offer an opportunity for quicker response times.

“Currently rural fire brigades are permitted to access water for fire extinguishment without license, but farmer firefighting units can only do so if there's an emergency, and they have received direction for an authorised officer,” Mr Robinson said.

“At the moment, a RFS Deputy Captain and anyone ranking above can give permission to farmers to access water, which wouldn’t be necessary under these proposed changes.”

The proposed exemption within the existing legislation would allow water to be taken and used by landholders for firefighting purposes without needing to hold a water access license or various approvals.

According to the Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water, while no decisions have been made yet, if approved, the exemption would be subject to strict conditions. 

“Bushfires are an inevitability in our country, and we know in a hotter, drier climate that danger will only increase. It’s up to all of us to ensure we’re as ready as possible by getting on the front foot with bushfire preparedness, including improving access to water for landholders,” NSW DCCEEW Executive Director Strategy and Policy – Water, Kaia Hodge said.

Mr Robinson said often the farmers took water from RFS tankers to help with fire-fighting, and so were accessing water sources anyway.

“They may not directly take it from the source, but they might be indirectly doing so by taking it by filling up from our tanks,” he said. “We fill from a water source and then they fill from us, so we are really giving permission in that way. In a real emergency, farmers would possibly fill up where they can but are likely helping out their neighbour by doing so. Quick response time is always important.”

Ms Hodges said, if approved the policy change could be a game-changer for many farmers and rural property owners if they’re ever in the unfortunate situation where a bushfire is threatening their property and nearby water sources could be used to better defend it.  

“Responsible water management is at the heart of our approach. That’s why we’ve been listening carefully during this consultation period to see if there are changes to the policy settings that could and should be made,” she said.

To view the What We Heard report, click here.