Students at remote primary schools along the Darling-Baaka River have learned more about river ecology as Western Landcare NSW delivered an educational program with funding from the enforceable undertaking. Schools who have participated so far include Palinyewah, Pomona, Wilcannia Central, St Therese’s Community Parish, St Patrick's Parish, St Ignatius Parish and Bourke Public School. The program included activities such as water bug surveys, native fisheries and pests, and river ecology near their schools. The program will continue in other schools in May.
The Lachlan Valley Farms enforceable undertaking is on the NRAR public register.
Background
Lachlan Valley Farms Pty Ltd purchased a 3,841-hectare property, including 808 hectares of productive almonds trees and more than 10,000 megalitres (ML) of water entitlements, in December 2020.
The company inherited faulty metering equipment from the previous owner and began to record water taken through its bores in a logbook.
After new metering equipment was installed, the company became aware that the manual recording had been inaccurate and as a result it had potentially exceeded its bore extraction limit by 449ML , the equivalent of almost 180 Olympic sized swimming pools.
The company stopped taking water from the bore and self-reported the breach to NRAR.
Bore extraction limits protect our fragile groundwater systems. The company did the right thing by self-reporting and as a result avoided being taken to court.
NRAR accepted an enforceable undertaking (EU) offer from the company that will see it forfeit water and face costs of more than $73,000, including $10,000 towards an environmental project. EUs are a serious compliance response and NRAR uses them as an alternative to a prosecution.
Although the company inherited the faulty metering equipment and had only recently taken ownership of the property and water entitlements, it had significant responsibilities.
It is important to know the rules associated with your water entitlements and to keep a close eye on your water take from the moment you take ownership.
Accurate meters take the guess work out of measuring bore extraction, reduce your reporting requirements and ensure you don’t make costly mistakes.
Lachlan Valley Farms used the water to produce almonds. They require a minimum of 8.5 to 10ML per hectare of water throughout the growing season. We estimate that the volume of water over extracted was enough to support the irrigation of 45 hectares of almond trees, with an approximate monetary value of $500,000.
The breaches
Lachlan Valley Farms could have faced potential prosecution under section 91G (2) of the Water Management Act 2000 (WM Act).
The company exceeded the bore extraction limit attached to one of the bores on the property.
A bore extraction limit is the maximum amount of water you are approved to take using a bore from a groundwater source. Bore extraction limits help protect complex and fragile groundwater sources from contamination and depletion while preventing the aquifer from deteriorating. Visit our bore extraction limits page to learn more.
The Lower Lachlan Groundwater Source where the water was extracted from is located within the Lachlan River catchment. The water source extends from Lake Cargelligo in the east, to the western boundary at Oxley. The overall extraction limit for this groundwater source is 117,000 ML per year.
The undertaking
The EU came into effect on 29 June 2022 and requires Lachlan Valley Farms to:
- make a payment of $53,880 to NRAR for the volume of water allegedly taken in exceedance of the individual bore extraction limit
- make a $10,000 contribution to Western Landcare NSW for an environmental project
- pay NRAR $10,000 to cover its investigation and legal costs
- forfeit 1122.5ML of water from its water account
- install metering equipment on all groundwater works on the property.