Costly result after bore extraction breach
Breaching a bore extraction limit has proved costly for the owner of a mixed cropping enterprise near Griffith who has been ordered to pay a fine of $26,250 and $20,000 in costs.
The irrigator pleaded guilty to a single charge of breaching the conditions of his licence approval to over-extract 97.5 megalitres of water from a bore during a period of drought in 2019-20.
The prosecution was brought by the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
While the court accepted that the defendant’s breach was inadvertent, it found that the over-extraction had an effect on the groundwater pressure in the aquifer and would have resulted in additional costs for neighbouring water users if they pumped water during the period of offending,
In handing down her decision, her Honour, Justice Sarah Prichard SC said she found "beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant’s over-extraction posed an increased risk of harm to the environment".
"I treat that increased risk of harm seriously and consider it to undermine the regulatory scheme of the Water Management Act," Justice Prichard said.
She said that while the risk of harm was mitigated by the size of the over-extraction, it was "inescapable" that the offence had occurred during a water year in which total extraction from the Deep Groundwater Source was larger than the average annual recharge and when the groundwater source was at its second lowest level on record.
NRAR Director Investigations and Enforcement, Lisa Stockley, said NRAR responded to breaches according to several factors, including the risk of harm.
"In this case, the offending was during a drought and posed a high risk of negatively impacting on the environment and other water users," she said.
"By responding to illegal activities in a proportionate way, we seek to change offenders’ attitudes and behaviours, and to deter others from offending," Ms Stockley said.
