Partnering with Aboriginal peoples
Water for Country is environmental water use planned by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and Aboriginal people to achieve shared benefits for the environment and cultural places, values and/or interests.
In 2025–26, we will partner with Aboriginal peoples and organisations in the Namoi catchment. The Namoi is home to the Gomeroi/Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay people. We continue to build and strengthen our relationships with the Gomeroi/Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay people to learn about the cultural significance of the Namoi and Peel rivers and floodplains as well as share knowledge about the ecological values of the waterways. Water managers will continue to support Aboriginal representatives by including their priorities in annual water planning processes.
We will also continue involvement in a fish and flows project led by the Department of Primary Industries – Fisheries. This project aims to include cultural knowledge, experience and perspectives in the fish and flows framework to develop flow-related cultural objectives which support fish conservation.
Key planned actions
Native fish
Water managers will seek opportunities to increase flows to support movement, dispersal and recruitment success for native fish in the Peel and lower Namoi rivers.
Flows may also be considered to support refuge habitat and small-scale movement of native fish below Wee Waa during autumn as regulated river flows reduce or cease.
Connectivity
Increasing flows to help maintain connection along the Namoi River and between the Namoi and Barwon rivers will be a consideration to encourage dispersal of native fish between the two-river systems.
Proposed annual priority targets in the Namoi water resource plan area
For more information, go to our Annual environmental watering priorities 2025–26 webpage, which includes each catchment’s resource availability scenario and expected volumes of environmental water available.
