Farmers along the 'regulated' Hunter River, who were bracing for a cut in their 2019-20 water allocation have received 95 cent of their entitlements.
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This is particularly good news with demand for irrigated fodder crops at an all time high due to the ongoing and widespread drought.
However, the following year's allocation maybe significantly lower unless there are big inflows into Glenbawn and Glennies Creek dams.
This amount of water available in the Hunter system during 2019-20 is in stark contrast to other irrigation districts throughout the state where allocations in many cases are zero.
General security water access licence holders on the regulated Peel River near Tamworth will receive an allocation of 0 megalitre per unit share. Its a similar story for Namoi River with zero allocation for general security licence holders.
With much talk on the need to build more dams to store water for times like we are now experiencing it must be remembered that Glenbawn dam was built as a flood mitigation measure not simply a facility to provide irrigation water.
The good fortune for Hunter River irrigators also highlights the need to protect prime agricultural land in our region as it remains productive when so many other food bowl regions have succumbed to drought.
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment stated local water utility and domestic and stock water access licence holders on the Hunter regulated river water source, which includes Glennies Creek and the Paterson regulated river water source will receive 100 per cent of entitlement.
Major utility access licence holders on the Hunter regulated river water source also receive 100 per cent of entitlement.
High security access licence holders, which are held mostly by coal mines, on the Hunter regulated river, which includes Glennies Creek, will receive an allocation of 1 megalitre per unit share of entitlement.
General security access licence holders in these systems are also able to carryover a volume not exceeding 25 per cent of the share component of the access licence in the Hunter regulated river water source.
An available water determination of 1 megalitre per share for supplementary water access licences on the Hunter regulated river, which includes Glennies Creek, has also been made for the 2019-20 water year.
The Hunter Valley has been drought affected like most of NSW and the storage levels have been falling. Water users are advised to adopt water conservation measures in this critical period. In the unlikely event of inflows dropping below the planned historical minimum, delivering all allocated water will be difficult.
