Water is always an issue in the Western Plains - there's either not enough, or way too much!

But, one thing is certain and that is the necessity to have water available when you need it.

The NSW Government Department for Planning and Environment (DPIE) are currently undertaking a survey around domestic and stock rights as part of a review into understanding how water is managed and extracted.

Domestic and stock rights are one type of basic landholder right under the Water Management Act, allowing landowners to take and use water for domestic consumption and non-intensive stock watering without a water access licence or water use approval. These rights apply if you own or occupy a parcel of land which has river, lake, or estuary frontage or is overlying an aquifer.

Currently, domestic and stock rights are largely unregulated and while several reviews have recommended regulating domestic and stock rights as a logical next step toward improving water management in NSW, Kaia Hodge, the Department of Planning and Environment’s Executive Director of Strategy and Policy said this survey is purely a "fact-finding mission."

“Currently there is very little information available on how this water is being used," Ms Hodge said "That’s why this survey is an important opportunity to hear directly from those on the ground who can paint a clearer picture for us. So far, we’ve had 1,922 responses which shows how important this water right is and reiterates how crucial it is that we hear from everyone across regional NSW."

When contacting DPIE for comment around common themes in the survey, Western Plains App was told while no information was currently available, findings of the review, including survey results, will be made available through a “What we heard” report which will be published on the Department’s website in early 2024.

“The review will also help us better understand if the current level of regulation is creating risks to water availability in certain areas or in certain circumstances, for example, during drought," Ms Hodge said.

Recent droughts have raised further issues around the way water is taken and used under these rights during extreme dry periods.

Among other things, the survey asks whether the current level of regulation around stock and domestic water use is sufficient and if the community would like to see limits placed on water take when drought hits.

“As much of the state becomes drier as the El Niño kicks in, it is critical we collect as much information as possible because the more we know, the more effectively we can manage water in NSW," said Ms Hodge.

"I encourage everyone with stock and domestic rights to jump online and respond before the survey closes, because every comment counts.”

To find out more or have your say, click this link.