PEEL Valley water users have taken the next step in their fight to get rid of "grossly unfair" water charges at an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) public forum last week.
Irrigators, council representatives and federal and state members Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Anderson met to discuss the water pricing structure, which sets water usage costs at $52.27 per megalitre, compared to $1.53 being paid by irrigators downstream in the Murrumbidgee.
The Tamworth meeting was one of two public forums held this week as part of the ACCC Review of Water Charge Rules. The second meeting was held at Dubbo on Tuesday.
Peel Valley Water Users' Association member Ildu Monticone, "Medica Park", Dungowan, addressed ACCC commissioner Sarah Court on behalf of the irrigators group, saying the current situation made the northern irrigators less competitive with other valleys.
"Peel prices are going up every year from what's already a high base," Mr Monticone said.
"The main issue we have is with the valley-based pricing structure, where each valley has to cover the costs of dam maintenance.
"We use 17,000ML in the Peel Valley compared to two million in the Murray, but because there's only a small number of users we end up paying much more," Mr Monticone said.
"We pay 100 per cent of the water usage charges, but between irrigators and the council together, we only use 5pc of the water - 95pc of water from the Peel River actually goes downstream.
"We think if we only get access to a small amount of water we should only be paying for 5pc."
Association president Tom Woolaston, "Stratharlie", Somerton, said it was the most promising water meeting he'd been to in many years of fighting for a fairer system.
He's been one of the lucky irrigators in the past year.
While other irrigators had zero water allocation, good unregulated river flows allowed Mr Woolaston to grow at least a portion of his crop.
"We grow lucerne for hay and we're also watering canola, durum wheat, and oats for hay," he said.
"We usually irrigate about 200 hectares a year but we've grown about half that."
Mr Woolaston is entitled to 12pc of his water allocation in the new allocations from the beginning of July, a big improvement from the 2014-15 financial year, but he still wants a "postage-stamp style" (i.e. the same) price for water across the state.
"Irrigators on the Cockburn River pay a small amount, but as soon as the same water hits the Peel River it goes up to more than $50 a megalitre and when it gets to the Namoi it gets cheaper again, all the way along to South Australia," he said.
"A lot of the water that originates up here in the Peel is used for the environment, which means everybody should be paying for it, not just the irrigators."
Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson used the meeting to propose a joint venture between the Peel and Namoi valleys to help achieve a more equitable system.
"We are being charged about $50/ML in the Peel Valley, yet next door in the Namoi Valley the price drops to approximately $19/ML," Mr Anderson said.
"Ultimately there needs to be something done across the valleys in the Murray-Darling Basin.
"The current system of single issue, valley-by-valley pricing, is unfair."
Mr Anderson also urged the NSW government to urgently prepare a new Peel Valley Water Sharing Plan, saying the current plan from 2010 was outdated and didn't meet the current needs or future demands of regional water users.
The ACCC will provide its advice and draft rules to federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt by the end of December 2015.
