The problem

Non-urban water metering helps track water taken from rivers and groundwater under a water access licence. It’s a national requirement to ensure water is measured, monitored and managed properly. Our efforts focused on high-volume, high-risk water users with entitlements over 100 megalitres whose deadline for installation has passsed.

The NSW Government updated the metering policy this year to make compliance quicker, easier and cheaper for water users. The policy review made significant changes and confirmed NRAR’s focus area, but our work showed that many users still face challenges to comply. These challenges often require ongoing engagement and support from NRAR.

Why it matters

High-volume users hold over 95% of NSW’s water entitlements. Making sure they comply with metering rules is critical for fair and sustainable water use. Emu Lake, Darling River Floodplain, Kinchega National Park NSW.

Our approach

In 2024–25, we used spatial data and other tools to identify high-volume, active works in inland NSW that were overdue to comply.

Our staged assessment included:

•  desktop audits and site visits to check metering requirements and compliance
•  actions taken for non-compliance, including advice, warnings, directions, or cautions
•  follow-up audits to track progress.

When engaging licence holders, we ensured they:

• clearly understood their obligations
  
•  were taking steps to comply
• knew the consequences of not meeting requirements.