Legalising Flood Plain Harvesting.

 The subject of what is called " Flood plain harvesting "  is an issue up for debate in the New South Wales parliament and the licensing proposed seems to run foul of existing laws which deem it illegal.  It is evident that this is widespread in many parts of the state and many farmers see it as a means of regulating their water supply.

When rain falls from the sky the farmer gets a good crop and lush pasture, but the law prevents the capture of that water.  If water is to be retained by the building of a dam or creation of a small lake, that must have government approval because it will stop the run off water feeding into the inland river system.

Taking water from those rivers is another licensed activity and we have too many people taking too much water in many parts of the state, resulting in fish kills when water flow is deprived of oxygen levels.   This is of great concern when the flow of a river services several states.

It is also illegal to construct channels or or dig drains to direct the flow of excess water to where it will be useful for farming, and this is a form of " harvesting "  that seems about to change.   In 1995 the government capped the amount of run off water permitted to be taken in this way because of the detrimental effect on town water supplies.

Now the state Water Minister is proposing to allow this type of flood plain harvesting under license as a way of measuring the amount of water taken.  This measure is being opposed by both Labor and the crossbench who claim the government is acting in bad faith by allowing debate on an issue that has not had legal advice tabled.

There is concern that this new measure may open old wounds.  When the land was initially farmed in New South Wales there were no laws covering water harvesting and many farmers created dams and ponds on their land.  The government tends to turn a blind eye to activity that happened before water conservation legislation was enacted and now this unlicensed work may come under the microscope.

In many cases, low channelling simply diverted surface rain water to a naturally occurring low part of the property, resulting in the creation of a pond that holds water for farm use.  In the majority of cases, that work would not be permitted today and it seems inevitable that if water harvesting becomes licensed there will be pressure for this old work to be discontinued.

In many cases, water diversion can be as simple as ploughing a shallow furrow to direct the water flow to where a natural hollow will create a storage pond.  It is predicted that Australia will become a drier country as a result of global warming and how we store our water will become a critical issue in the future.

It is imperative that the parliament sorts out the legal issues before a legislative change comes into effect.