Irrigator fined for taking water from at-risk groundwater source
A Riverina irrigator has been convicted and fined a total of $156,250 for illegally taking water from the at-risk Murrumbidgee Deep Groundwater Source during a period of drought between July 2017 and June 2020.
The owner of the property, which grows grapes, cotton, wheat, canola, barley and corn southwest of Griffith pleaded guilty to five charges in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Among other things, they were also ordered to pay $60,000 in costs.
The prosecution was brought by the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) and involved the over-extraction of 7,352.97 ML of water from various bores, the equivalent of 2,953 Olympic swimming pools.
Four of the charges were concerned with breaches of bore extraction limits and one charge of taking water not in accordance with an access licence allocation. The court heard that at the time, the water taken had a market value of $1.1 million dollars.
NRAR Director Investigation and Enforcement, Lisa Stockley, welcomed the court's decision and said it highlighted the risk posed to fragile underground water resources when water laws were not followed.
Groundwater levels at the time almost reached the historical lows that were observed during 2007 to 2009 at the end of the Millennium drought - the worst drought on record in southeast Australia.
"This aquifer is considered to be "at-risk" from high water demand, and that means all water users taking licensed water from the groundwater source must have a meter, regardless of infrastructure size.”
Ms Stockley said water users were sometimes more aware of how NRAR managed surface water because rivers and other waterways were more visible.
"Groundwater is the unseen water source. People don't realise what damage can be done. If groundwater is taken faster than it is being replaced or ‘recharged’ it can lead to long-term problems for the communities, enterprises, and ecosystems that rely on this water.
“These systems can be ancient and depending on the recharge rate, any damage may take years to recover.”
In handing down her decision Her Honour, Justice Pepper remarked that the offending posed a "real risk of environmental harm" and that it was up to licence holders to know their licence conditions and follow them.
“At all times the onus is on account or WAL [water access licence] holders to adhere to the conditions of their WAL or account. It is not incumbent upon a regulator to inform the account or licence holder of any actual or potential breach," Justice Pepper said.
