Power, Basin Plan on radar

The next round of NSW's Water Sharing Plans are being finalised.

This scheme balances the needs of the environment and farmers and the council wants to ensure it has a seat at the negotiating table.

The government should not implement Water Sharing Plans that would negatively impact irrigators, Mr McKenzie said.

The council wants to see the government implement "more transparent rules and regulations governing the setting of electricity tariffs".

"In 2004 the plans were finalised without consulting irrigators," Mr McKenzie said.

"We want to provide our input at the ministerial level."

The council also wants to see the government implement "more transparent rules and regulations governing the setting of electricity tariffs".

Previously, The Land reported irrigators across the State were irate at electricity prices (Water savings blow out power costs, July 31, 2014, p6).

High network charges had forced farmers to either switch off their power-hungry pumps or stick with water efficient, but costly, systems.

In recent years, a raft of government-funded schemes had been run to encourage irrigators to switch to drip irrigation, which draws less water, but more power.

Mr Mackenzie wants to see more transparency in disclosure of NSW Office of Water charges.

"At the moment, particularly in the unregulated systems, there is concern irrigators appear to pay disproportionately high sums for fixed water charges, and they don't believe running costs to those systems accrue much cost."

Another top priority for the elected party would be to push the Commonwealth to give NSW the best possible deal under the Murray Darling Basin plan.

Mr McKenzie wants the Common-wealth to put into law its commitment to undertake no more water buybacks in the Basin.

However, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is calculating what the new limits on water take in valleys across the Basin should be (known as sustainable diversion limits).

But at the same time, NSW is writing up its plans for water-saving infrastructure projects to deliver the 650 gigalitres of required water savings.

Southern Riverina Irrigators' chairman John Bradford, "Parkdale", Deniliquin, said whoever was elected needed to finalise the plans and demonstrate it could meet the Basin plan target.

"If the State falls short in its commitment to deliver the diversion limit projects, that could see the Commonwealth turn around and go straight to (water licence) buybacks to make up the shortfall," he said.

"But that productive water is sacrosanct, it's a loss to both the irrigator and the district and its economy."

Mr McKenzie said the council did not want "to commit one litre more to buybacks than we need to".

Mr Bradford said the allocation restrictions delivered under the Basin Plan had caused the price of temporary water in the Murray district to rise to $135 a megalitre.

"I don't imagine the MDBA economists would've seen this price coming so quickly," he said.

"If they buy back more water the price will rise exponentially."

Mr Bradford said temporary water licences were crucial for productivity, and stressed high water prices impacted broadly across the community.

The council also wants State government to extract a federal commitment to review the MDBA, once the Basin Plan comes into effect in 2019.

At a State level, Mr McKenzie said the government should encourage the Commonwealth to grant the Environmental Water Holder a temporary licence to trade water surplus to its needs.

The funds generated could be used to invest in water saving infrastructure, he said.