An online petition calling for a NSW water register has received just under 2000 signatures in 10 days.
The petition, was launched by rural advocacy group Speak Up 4 Water and follows the defeat of Murray MP Helen Dalton's bill in parliament in August.
Accessible on the NSW parliament website, it calls for a water register which publishes information of companies and individuals who hold water entitlements or have applied for a water access licence.
The petition also outlines that the water register be accessible online and searchable by the public, is retrospective, showing backdated information to 2006 and finally, protects personal contact details of individuals.
Mrs Dalton said the petition addressed the NSW Government's main criticism of a public water register - that it violates the privacy of mum-and-dad farmers.
"It states that a public register should not reveal private contact details of farmers," she said.
NSW Parliament is obliged to debate and vote on any electronic petition garnering more than 20,000 signatures following a recent policy change.
Speak Up 4 Water submitted another petition with more than 10,000 signatures, calling for a national water register and federal royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan, to parliament in February.
Bill to be reintroduced with privacy amendment
Mrs Dalton, a member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, plans to re-introduce her water transparency bill to NSW parliament next week, with an amendment to protect privacy.
"A public water register was never going to include phone numbers and addresses," Mrs Dalton said.
"But if the NSW Government is using privacy as their excuse, this new clause addresses this concern.
"Now, if they vote against the bill, we will know they are protecting their donors and foreign corporates."
Mrs Dalton said the bill would also include an amendment to strengthen transparency regarding water entitlements held within irrigation corporations.
"At present, it's easy for foreign companies to hide their water entitlements inside an irrigation corporation. They won't be able to do so if my bill passes," she said.
"If I have the weight of 20,000 petition signatures behind a public water register, it will be difficult for the NSW Government to resist it."