The NSW government announced that general water licence holders - which covers the majority of farmers - would receive zero percent of their surface water entitlement.

Peel Valley irrigator Ildu Monitcone said the allocations were "no real surprise".

"We knew there would be nothing out of the river because of how low the dam is," he said.

"The water sharing plan says when that's the case, we're entitled to 51 per cent of our groundwater entitlement."

While the news was expected, it doesn't make it any less bitter to swallow.

"People knew it was coming and know that's the reality of it, but obviously it effects irrigators because they can't irrigate out of the river," Mr Monticone said.

"Not ideal, it is certainly better than zero. A lot of people don't have a very big ground water licence, so 51 per cent is not an enormous volume.

Farmers in the Namoi Valley fared slightly better in the groundwater department - Breeza got 70 per cent, Mullaley, Boggabri and Baan Baa got 95 per cent while the rest of the zones in the basin got 100 per cent.

Gwydir Valley and the Border Rivers also received no surface water allocation.

High-security water holders in the Peel Valley, such as Tamworth Regional Council, will be able to access 50 per cent of their entitlement.

MORE WATER PRESSURE

The state government's drought coordinator, Michael Wrathall, said dams operated by WaterNSW in regional NSW were holding 5300 gigalitres - about 30 per cent of total storage capacity, which is 23 per cent lower than this time last year.

"Over the last two years, many rivers have dropped to their lowest flows since records began over 100 years ago," Mr Wrathall said.

"In some valleys, especially in the Northern Basin, the water is simply not there to deliver to farmers, irrigators and industry.

"Most storages remain at low or critically low levels, resulting in small or zero allocations for many licensed water users.

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"We are focusing on extending water for critical human water needs, restarting flow in the rivers, and meeting other high priority water needs where possible."

Tamworth Regional Council acting water director Dan Coe said was confident the changes made to local would help to extend the current water storage within Chaffey Dam for the city.

"Tamworth Regional Council is confident that the 70 per cent local water utility allocation announced by the NSW government today will be sufficient to cover our current predicted water requirements taking into consideration that we are currently on level four water restrictions," he said.