THE irrigation industry in the Peel Valley is facing a battle to stay afloat as they continue “to get hammered by costs”.
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The enduring and complicated fight for fairer bulk water charges for irrigators using regulated water from the Peel River, reached a critical point at a council meeting in Tamworth last night.
Currently, irrigators using Peel River water pay $58.26 per megalitre and WaterNSW’s proposal for bulk water charges for the next four years ($54.97) offers little relief to the Peel valley.
Tom Woolaston, president of the Peel Valley Water Users Association, said “nothing has changed”.
“I don’t know if it will be the end, but it will be wound back,” Mr Woolaston said of the industry.
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) draft determination on WaterNSW’s proposed charges was based on a 40:60 ratio of fixed charges to usage charges.
Local water users implored council to support an 80:20 ratio, which was turned down with too much cost being shifted to TRC.
“The 80:20 split was recommended by [Water Minister] Niall Blair, it was favourable for us, but it wasn’t favourable for council because they don’t use as much water,” Mr Woolaston said.
“If it was the 80:20 split, I would’ve saved $12,000 last year
“It’s cheaper to maintain a licence than it is to use it.”
Fellow irrigator Ildu Monticone said he understood why they didn’t get council’s support and encouraged the mayor to go to Minister Blair and ask about “subsidies for council”.
“People are not irrigating as much as they should, so we’re not producing as much as we should,” he said.
“It’s cheaper to truck in hay from Scone than it is to produce it here.” He urged locals to make a submission to IPART before on April 17.
“This is our last-ditch effort until the next state election,” he said.
“If it’s not resolved by then, it will be an election issue.”
David Gowing said the way water prices were going, it could spell the end of the of local industry.
“If the water prices remain where they are, it’s uneconomic, they’ll slowly get out of the industry,” he said.
Mr Gowing said he was able to avoid the regulated river water costs by getting a Peel alluvium licence.
“I’ve just spent about $50,000 so I don’t have to pump out of the Peel,” he said.
“That will be adequate for me to operate, but I had to make that capital expenditure to enable me to do that.”
At Tuesday’s meeting councillors resolved to oppose any change to the 40:60 ratio, unless the NSW government would offset any resulting increased costs.
In its submission to IPART, council will register its opposition to the large differential water usage charges between valleys in the Murray-Darling Basin.