Anger at government looks set to unite the state's brawling irrigator tribes.
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Northern and Southern irrigators now have a shared object, to oppose the state bureaucracy's controversial move to classify rainfall run-off from irrigation paddocks as registered water take.
A vocal faction of angry southern irrigators have been criticising the legal practices of Northern Basin irrigators capturing overland flow under licenced floodplain harvesting rules, accusing them diverting too much water from southern rivers.
But north and south irrigators are united in their accusation that the state's water managers are guilty of overreach.
To date rainfall run-off from irrigation country to date has not been counted as irrigation take. But the policy would change that.
Run-off that is captured, in a drainage channel or structure for example, would become counted against irrigation entitlement.
The new Floodplain Harvesting Policy is the Department's way of regulating extraction of water that it argues would otherwise have formed part of the natural river system.
"The explicit inclusion of rainfall runoff within the definition of floodplain harvesting ensures that the collection of rainfall runoff is adequately catered for within the licensed entitlements," the policy document says.
But irrigators argue that the volume of farmland run-off is unnaturally elevated by their good work.
They say that irrigating their paddock increases soil moisture and bumps up the run-off volume, and that farming techniques for productive soil management, can also increase moisture retention and boost run-off.
Namoi Valley Irrigators executive officer Jon-Maree Baker was scathing in her criticism of the policy and the bureaucracy.
"This is a Department that has no consideration of the practical implications around their policy. Through maladministration, it's making policy on the run and has misused the stakeholder consultation process.
"The policy would apply statewide and the Department didn't clearly articulate that it would do so and it's a big issue. There's roughly 570,000 megalitres of rainfall run-off in the Southern Basin, and about 250,000ML of storage."
The department has rolled out the policy during stakeholder consultation meetings across the state.
NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey said she would respond to complaints from irrigators.
"I have been told that in the past consultation around Floodplain harvesting hasn't been great. The most important thing is for us to work with communities and listen to the feedback they have on this important policy," Ms Pavey said.
