Hawkesbury-Nepean river recovery
The purchase of water licences in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system is one of seven projects of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Project. The Project was funded by the Australian Government Water for the Future initiative, and was implemented by NSW government agencies and the Hawkesbury City Council.
The water licence purchase project aimed to:
purchase water entitlement from willing sellers
gauge the market value of water
ensure that the water is secured for the environment into the future.
Purchases from willing sellers under the Hawkesbury-Nepean Water River Recovery Project are now complete. The Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) has purchased approximately 4900 megalitres of unregulated river access licence shares across the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment at a cost of $5.7 million. Prices paid varied with location due to variations in estimated market value and the level of environmental benefit expected for each location. The purchased entitlement will now be reserved as environmental water and will therefore contribute to healthier river ecosystems.
The Hawkesbury-Nepean Water Licence Purchase Project brochure (20110936HNWaterLicence.pdf, 486KB) relates to licence purchase activities under the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Project. As a service to inform a developing water market, the brochure includes information from the project that may be of interest to water licence holders for a range of reaches of the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers and some tributaries. This information is derived from the licence purchase project and does not constitute advice.
Information on future trading of water access licences in the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment are to be made publicly available on a Water Management Act register maintained by the NSW Office of Water.
If you wish to obtain further information about the Hawkesbury-Nepean Water Licence Purchase Project phone (02) 6229 7141 or email RiverBank@environment.nsw.gov.au or write to:
Manager RiverBank
Office of Environment and Heritage
PO Box 733
Queanbeyan NSW 2620
Further information on the overall Hawkesbury-Nepean Water River Recovery Project can be found at the Office of the Hawkesbury-Nepean.
Page last updated: 22 December 2011
