A principal objective of NRAR is to ensure effective, efficient, transparent and accountable compliance and enforcement measures for the natural resources management legislation.
Our annual priorities
Water metering and DQPs
The non-urban water metering framework will ensure accurate measurement of water take, supporting us to deliver an effective and efficient compliance program. Duly qualified persons (DQPs) are integral to ensuring the effectiveness of this program, so we will undertake checks to ensure consistency and accuracy of their work.
Region: statewide
Irrigated agriculture
We will target a range of irrigated agriculture activities, which may include certain crop types and irrigated agriculture activities that extract large volumes of water.
Regions: Hunter, Murray, Murrumbidgee and the Far North Coast
Overdrawn accounts
Water users who take water that has not been ordered and/or accounted for are taking water directly from other water users and the environment.
Region: statewide
Extraction limits in at-risk sources
Bore extraction limits allow for the management of water extraction from often complex and fragile sources that play an important role for natural habitats and the quality of dependent ecosystems.
Region: Lachlan, Lower Murrumbidgee and Namoi
Our enduring priorities
Accurate measurement
Water take to be measured and reported accurately and reliably in line with the law.
Aboriginal cultural values
We will endeavour to protect and prioritise Aboriginal cultural and spiritual values in water regulation. Water is central to the cultural and spiritual values of Aboriginal peoples and is intrinsically linked to their obligations in caring for Country.
Unlawful activity, significant harm
Unlawful activity, significant harm: we will continue to take action against water users who undertake unlawful activities, which causes significant harm to other water users, communities or the environment.
Unauthorised structures
Unauthorised structures stop water from getting where it should on the floodplain. We will regulate water users with unauthorised structures on the floodplain that divert water from important cultural or environmental assets.
Regulatory priorities 2021-22
Our regulatory priorities are crafted to align with the Water Reform Action Plan and the Draft NSW Water Strategy and to support the goals for water management in NSW.
Earlier priority areas
We review and update our priorities on an ongoing basis to take into account new developments and improvements in our data and analytical tools. See our previous priorities below.