There's no punchline, but each of them are part of the 12 new field officers who have joined the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) to check water law compliance across Tamworth.

Among them is Sarah, who cannot be named for privacy reasons, a field safety supervisor who previously worked in a tissue culture laboratory and turned her attention to water after the horror drought and bushfires.

"With everything that's just been happening in terms of the last fire season and the huge drought, I started to get really concerned and wanted to understand the whole process in terms of decision-making and what's actually happening," she said.

"That's what really struck my interest in water.

"I'll be talking to a lot of people and getting to know all of the farmers and people that are actually on the ground doing the work."

NRAR is the independent watchdog responsible for ensuring compliance with water laws.

When the field officers visit landholders, they will check that all water licenses and approvals have been followed.

The landholders will be contacted and given notice ahead of a visit, to give them the opportunity to check their water activities are compliant with their individual conditions.

The routine monitoring teams were established to put more boots on the ground in regional NSW, and will visit properties from October to September 2021.

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NRAR chief regulatory officer Grant Barnes said that across the last two-and-a-half years it had proved itself a firm but fair regulator.

"The routine monitoring program is an ambitious pilot that will see more boots on the ground to enable us to get a better understanding of compliance across NSW," he said.

"Those staff will be out visiting water users in the Murray Darling Basin, helping them understand their obligations with the conditions of their licence, answering questions they might have.

"Given the nature of water use and the complexity of water law, it's not reasonable to expect all water users to inherently understand their obligations and naturally comply with the law."

NRAR has created 30 new positions, with others in Deniliquin and Dubbo.