While the report found South Australia also had a high rate of metering, it had smaller numbers of meters which could be remotely monitored through telemetry.
In NSW, as at December 1, 2021, only 69 per cent of meters attached to pumps bigger than 500mm were compliant with the new rules introduced by the NSW Government.
In 2020-21, 96 per cent of customers’ water was metered and about 70 of those meters were fitted with telemetry.
Victoria is also way ahead of NSW (the biggest consumer in the Murray-Darling Basin) in submitting its water resource plans.
Inspector-General of Water Compliance Troy Grant commissioned former Victorian and Western Australian Auditor-General Des Pearson to report to him on the effectiveness of water compliance across the Murray-Darling Basin.
“If people were looking for major failures and breakdowns in systems, operations, practices or policy as the ‘smoking gun’ for the challenges facing the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’s largest water resource, then they might be a bit disappointed,” Mr Grant said.
“That said, like most in-depth evidence-based investigative bodies of work, this review did find areas that could be further improved.”
The regulation of floodplain harvesting remains “a challenge” for NSW, the report found.
The NSW Legislative Council has disallowed various aspects of floodplain harvesting legislation in recent years.
At the time of writing this report, new legislative amendments had commenced on July 1, 2022 that provide a framework to licence and measure the take of water by floodplain harvesting activities.
“... until the unconstrained taking of floodplain water is regulated, this will remain a shortcoming of the NSW water management framework under the basin plan,” the report said.
“Until it is regulated, floodplain harvesting water take remains directly unmeasured and both state and Commonwealth compliance remains inoperative.”
The report said in 2020-21, 96 per cent of water taken via customer service points in the Murray-Darling Basin area of Victoria was metered.
“A notable feature of the Victorian meter fleet is the significant level of water taken — approximately 70 per cent of total metered volume taken — where the meter is fitted with telemetry.”
The report found the rates of non-compliance for unauthorised take in Victoria are extremely low.
While the ACT’s non-urban, or irrigation, use is tiny compared to other states, the nation’s capital is falling behind other states in some areas of compliance, which were raised two years ago.
The Inspector-General’s report says some of these issues raised in 2020 have not been addressed.
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