THE region’s irrigators have voiced their opinions at a community consultation in Gunnedah on Tuesday.
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Hosted by the NSW Department of Industry, the meeting allowed locals to have their say on new government mandated water metering reforms and strategies.
NSW Department of Industry group director Emma Solomon said more than 30 people turned out for the session.
“It was very pleasing to see a strong presence of local voices here in Gunnedah,” Ms Solomon said.
“Water metering is a really important topic and the proposed policy applies to people with a water access licence.
“The new policy requires patent approved water metres, so there were a lot of technical questions surrounding what meters are currently on the market and what kind of technology is available.”
Ms Solomon said the proposed policy will be rolled out over the next five years.
“We are working closely with manufactures to better understand what developments are being made and how many meters that will fit into the policy are on the market,” she said.
“That’s why the policy is being rolled out over a number of years to allow any licence holders looking for a new water meters will have time to do so.
“People with pumps over 500mm will have until December 1 2019 and the rest of the northern inland will be December 1 2020.”
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The NSW Department of Industry will be hosting a web seminar to allow for people who missed Tuesday’s session to access the information.
“This is genuine consultation, we want these reforms to be practical and be implemented efficiently on the ground,” Ms Solomon said.
“We really want to hear from those impacted by the proposed policy and we have a great deal of information available on our website.
“As well as that, we are holding a web seminar on September 24 so anyone across the state can log in and get the information.”
- For more information visit www.industry.nsw.gov.au