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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-25 Daily Xml
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Water Meters

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (14:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray questions regarding water licence reporting requirements.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: I was recently contacted by a constituent who, as a water licence holder, received a letter from the Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board. The letter outlined that licensees are required to provide an annual groundwater sample as well as complete an annual water-use report form. In 2011 the then premier (Hon. Mike Rann) announced that no meters would be required on dams of any size used for stock and domestic purposes. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister advise how licensees are able to determine how much water is being used if there are no meters on their dams?

2. Are bores in the Murray-Darling Basin natural resources management area required to have meters?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:00): Apologies, Mr President, it is right at the very back.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: You told me you were across everything, you didn't need a prop.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: He is, he sorted the EPA out too.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I am a 'fixer'. I fixed it. I have removed that impediment. I thank the honourable member for his most important question. I only wish the member for Sturt would actually fix some of the problems his government has been imposing on this state—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —particularly in relation to what the federal government has done to our poor pensioners in this state in removing funding for their pensioner concessions on council rates. But, 'the fixer', the member for Sturt, may get around to doing that at some stage and paying some attention to his local communities.

In relation to the question, I can say that the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources is currently in the process of determining and issuing approximately 2,182 water licence applications lodged by existing users in the Western Mount Lofty Ranges. This process commenced in September 2012, and by the end of January 2015 I am advised that 99 per cent of the licences have been issued. I am advised also that there are 35 remaining licence applications to be determined, and the department continues to work with the relevant landholders to resolve any outstanding issues prior to determining these.

The process involved sending a proposed licence package to existing users to provide them with an opportunity to request any amendments prior to the issue of the actual licence package. To guide the rollout of metering across the region, the department has developed a meter implementation plan for the Western Mount Lofty Ranges in consultation with industry members and groups. Where meters are required to be fitted in accordance with the meter implementation plan, licences include a condition that water must be taken through a meter.

Compliance with metering requirements for individual licences is monitored, and where necessary the department is working with the licence holder to achieve compliance for the requirement to meter. By allowing flexibility in the way that landholders measure water use, the meter implementation plan will significantly reduce the number of meters that are required to be installed across the region, and will reduce metering costs for many licensees.

It will also ensure there is a consistent and transparent application of metering requirements for water users across the Western Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area. Further information on the meter implementation plan and options for meter installation will be provided to the users upon issue of the actual licence package.

Following the issue of their licence, licensees will have four months to notify the department that they have either installed the required meters or that they require additional time. Meters do not need to be installed on dams or bores used solely for stock and domestic purposes, including dams with a capacity of five megalitres or greater. Once an actual licence package has been issued, the licensee has a right to appeal the determination in the Environment, Resources and Development Court within six weeks of the licence issue date.

It is important to note there has been no water levy applicable on water licences held by all users, other than SA Water, in 2014-15 in relation to the Western Mount Lofty Ranges. In relation to the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges, the department has commenced the process of issuing licences to existing users, and that commenced in November 2013. I am advised there are approximately 920 water licences to be issued to existing users in the easterns.

Water licences are being issued in a staged rollout, commencing with the issue of proposed licence packages. This gives water licence applicants the opportunity to request an amendment to their licence prior to their licence being issued. I understand that, as at the end of January 2015, 91 per cent of licence applications have been determined. This has resulted in the issue, I am told, of 616 licences to existing users so far, with another batch of over 200 licences to be rolled out in the first half of February.

Remaining licences are planned to be sent by the end of March 2015, and the department will continue to work with applicants to complete this process. Existing water users were required to install meters during the various notices of prohibition that were issued between 31 October 2003 to 29 September 2013. However, it is known that not all users complied with this requirement, with meters installed on only 35 per cent of licensed water sources.

To guide the process for the installation of the remaining meters, a meter installation plan for the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges has been developed in consultation the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board. This meter implementation plan will ensure there is a consistent and transparent application of metering requirements for water users across the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area.

Where meters are required to be fitted in accordance with the meter implementation plan, licences include a condition that water must be taken through a meter. Once the water licences are issued, compliance with metering requirements for individual licences is being closely tracked by the department. The department is working with licence holders to achieve compliance with the requirement to meter. Following the issue of their licence, licensees will have again six months to notify the department that they have either installed the required meters or that they require additional time.

Applications for new water allocations and management zones where there is unallocated water available will not be assessed until the existing water user licence process is completed, including resolutions of appeals, and a decision is reached on the release of any unallocated water in accordance with the policy on the release of unallocated water. If you think that process through, that is a logical thing to do—not releasing further unallocated water until every existing licence holder or those eligible to have a licence have been dealt with and allocated their required amount.

For the 2014-15 period, the levy rate is 0.553¢ per kilolitre for water allocated on a water licence. The water levy will be applied to licensed allocations. It is a not a charge on water usage, I am advised. It is important to note that there has been no water levy applicable on water licences held by all users other than SA Water in 2014-15.

In terms of existing users regulation, when the water resources of the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Areas were prescribed in September 2005, and the Western Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Areas in October 2005, all existing water users who wanted a water licence were required to apply within a statutory six-month period.

For a range of reasons, approximately 290 existing water users across the eastern and westerns did not apply for a water licence within the statutory application time frame. In addition, in the Western Mount Lofty Ranges around a further 257 landholders with a dam of five megalitres or greater in capacity used solely for stock and domestic use did not apply within the statutory application time frame.

A new regulation under the Natural Resources Management Act 2004 was approved by His Excellency the Governor in Executive Council in December 2012 and came into operation on 31 January 2013. This regulation provided eligible water users who did not apply for an 'existing user' water licence in 2005-06 with an additional six-month opportunity to apply. The application period ended at 5pm on 31 July 2013.

The department received, I am advised, a further 338 applications for water licences in the Western Mount Lofty Ranges and 65 applications for water licences in the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges during the additional application period. The department has advised that there are an estimated 187 existing users who did not apply for a water licence within the initial or additional statutory time frames across the eastern and westerns. Prior to the expiry of the statutory time frame, I can confirm that the department followed up with these existing users by letter and telephone to ensure that they were informed about their right to apply for a water allocation, the process to apply and the consequences of not applying.

People who did not apply within the statutory time frames may have an opportunity to apply for a water allocation after I make a determination about the release of any unallocated water in accordance with the policy on the release of unallocated water. The finalisation of the licensing process will ensure that existing water users can continue to operate and generate value from their existing investment.

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