The opportunity for feedback on draft Water Sharing Plans for sections of rivers in several areas of Western plains ends tomorrow Friday 10 January.

Three local systems are among those with the looming deadline and the inclusion of new rules around 'prescribed wetlands' is creating some interest among stakeholders and extra time has been provided for some of those areas.

The plans involve the 'unregulated' river water sources for the Lachlan, Barwon-Darling and Macquarie/Wambuul Bogan rivers.

An unregulated river system flows in response to rainfall and runoff, rather than releases from dams. Because unregulated rivers can have differing levels of water flow due to variable rainfall, an unregulated river licence only allows pumping or diversion above a certain river level and bans pumping below a certain level.  

Executive Officer of Lachlan Valley Water Glen Daley has expressed disapproval over the inclusion of wetlands in the proposed water sharing plans.  

"They are trying to prescribe wetlands in, so they've given people maps of properties with yellow dots, and if it gets gazetted then there are regulations on what you can and can't do." 

He described the Lachlan Regional Water Strategy as hollow. 

"Basically, they've spent four years doing that and there's nothing tangible that promises water security for the region," Mr Daley said. 

Members of Lachlan Valley Water have been encourged in a newsletter to make submissions to the NSW government objecting to the inclusion of wetlands in the plan.  

Draft water sharing plans for the Lachlan unregulated river source. Image from DCCEEW.

The Nature Conservation Council (NCC) has already made submissions for the Macquarie Wambuul Bogan unregulated rivers water sources and the Barwon-Darling unregulated river water source.

Melissa Gray, an experienced water campaigner for NCC, told the Western Plains App the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water needs to do more.  

"We are very supportive of the identification of existing wetlands in the Gwydir, but clearly a lot more needs to be done especially in Macquarie Wambuul. It needs to be updated. 

"Wetlands are a critical part of the environment. Their soils are special, they need to be covered in water, so it is counterproductive to over-farm wetlands."  

While there are updates to the identified wetlands draft plans in the Gwydir unregulated river water source plans, there are no updates in the Macquarie Wambuul plans.

Draft water sharing plans for the Macquarie/Wambuul Bogan unregulated river source. Image from DCCEEW.

Ms Gray emphasises the importance of protecting the entirety of the river system. 

"The connectivity work to make sure that enough water gets through from the Macquarie Wambuul, Namoi and Gwydir into the Barwon-Darling needs to be included in plans, but they're missing."  

Water sharing plans will develop rules for the sharing and distribution of water in NSW for the next decade.  The deadline for submitting feedback has been extended by the NSW government into 2025.

To share feedback you can enter a submission online here, or you can fill out this form and email it to [email protected].  

Current water sharing plans are set to be replaced by 1 July 2025. Submissions for feedback on water plans ends 10 January, and 2 February for wetland plans.  

You can learn more here or email [email protected] for more information.