Today (Wednesday 25 October) marks the closing date for submissions on the draft Castlereagh Water Sharing plan, which will set the rules for at least the next ten years on how water in the rivers and creeks in our area can be used.

New rules around spear depths and the impact of increasing sand levels, along with the opening of opportunities to buy and sell water licences along minor creeks in the Coonamble district, could prove to be important matters for the area in coming years.

So far, just a couple of local stakeholders have taken up the public opportunities to ask questions and give feedback on the current draft of the Castlereagh Water Sharing Plan.

On 11 October, Don Schieb and Mark Regan travelled to Gilgandra to attend a face-to-face session hosted by the Department of Primary Industries & Environment (DPIE).

They say the discussion clarified some of their questions but that “a lot of grey areas” remain about the legalities of water use along the Castlereagh and its related water sources.

Mr Schieb says he is also looking to see if the updated plan will help protect flows in dry times for those along the Gilgandra to Coonamble section of the river and below Coonamble.

He estimates there are around 100 spears between Coonamble and Gulargambone, many of which are relied upon for essential household purposes, but that lack of controls on upstream pumping could have been a factor in preventing water reaching those users in the previous drought.

“We proposed a ‘first flush’ rule that would mean that people upstream couldn’t begin pumping until the visible flow of water reached Coonamble,” Mr Schieb said.

“They thought it was fair. There was no opposition and the Department people took it on board.”

However, DPIE’s Director for Inland Water Planning, Peter Hyde, told the Coonamble Times on Monday 23 October that although the department did look at that suggestion current river gauging meant that it was unlikely to be possible in the near future.

“We actually did look at that. One of the things we look at in a review is how water is moving down the system and whether people with basic rights, and in towns, and the environment are all getting water at the right time,” Mr Hyde said.

“The issue we have in this system is there wasn’t a suitable streamflow gauge to be able to manage that access.

“Usually when we set rules we set rules that we know can be enforced and also rules that we know people can understand.

“If you have a gauge then you have a known point of reference … but there is no suitable gauge in that system.”

Mr Hyde explained that there are also no current resources tagged for installing additional gauging in the Castlereagh and funding announced in 2022 has been directed to other priority areas in the state.

“But we’re always looking to improve our gauging network so we can improve the rules we have in place,” he said. “If someone makes a submission saying they think we should have 24 hour access rules, if another round comes up or we think we don’t need a gauge somewhere else … This may be one we look at installing a new gauge in.”

In response to concerns raised by Mr Schieb, Mr Hyde also clarified that people with spearpoints need a Water Supply Works Approval from Water NSW and that the mining department have no role to play.

He also said that the Water Sharing Plan rules takes into account the sand in the river and that the ‘no pumping without visible flow’ rule does not apply to spearpoints.

“Across the state the use of spearpoints like what occurs in the Castlereagh is relatively rare,” he said. “It recognises that while there may be no visible flows the water is still moving through the system … so that’s why we include the rules for the spearpoints.”

“If you’ve got your works approval and are accounting for it and are taking it for basic rights then you can continue doing that using your spearpoint.”

However Mark Regan says that given the highly variable depth of sand throughout, it is still unclear how the new rule limiting spear depths to 8 metres will be applied.

“Is it from the top off this mound of sand or the next one, or is it from some point on the bank of the river?” he said.

Mr Hyde says that the measurement will be taken from the “surface of the sand.”