NSW Irrigators Council held its mid-year meeting in Sydney last week, with a large number of delegates, representatives and presenters attending from across the private sector and government.

The NSW Minister for Water, Hon Rose Jackson, attended in person, while Federal Minister Murray Watt, who was in Canberra for the final sitting week of Parliament before the winter break, joined online.

Key takeaways from the meeting included both Ministers confirming that the Federal Government does not support providing Basin Plan funding to implement any elements of the NSW Northern Connectivity Review. This, according to Minister Jackson, means her options are limited, and she indicated she expected to make an announcement on the future of the program shortly.

The other key piece of ministerial feedback is that Minister Watt, while he remains committed to working towards the 450GL "up water", is open to ideas on how he should manage the expected 300 to 350GL shortfall that will arise when the 605GL "down water" Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) projects are assessed towards the end of the year. He said his options ranged from doing nothing to stepping into the market and purchasing the shortfall, neither of which he thought were likely to be acceptable.

Other key discussion points included the legal water compensation framework at both a federal and New South Wales level, updates on federal water recovery, and a review and update on the Council's Basin Plan policy.

It was pleasing to hear that progress, though slow, has been made in both streamlining groundwater trade applications and the floodplain works approval processes.

A highlight of the two-day meeting was an inaugural networking event, which gathered irrigators, state and federal water public servants, supporters and sponsors in an informal setting, which, among other things, provided a relaxed atmosphere to test innovative water management ideas among the attendees.