The Federal Government is investing in state-of-the-art telemetry devices for more than 2,500 groundwater and surface water sites across the Murray-Darling Basin.
The funding aims to improve water monitoring and management, reduce users’ costs, and help New South Wales fast-track its metering reforms.
Telemetry supports sustainable water use by sending real-time data to water management agencies. This helps ensure that licensed water taken from inland regional water sources is extracted fairly and according to the rules. The investment will see the devices fully funded and installed in eligible sites in New South Wales over the next two and a half years.
Accurate monitoring is crucial for water resource planning and compliance, and telemetry reduces the need for licence holders to report manually, saving them time and money.
Eligible sites include those extracting from groundwater sources in the Murray-Darling Basin with an annual entitlement of 100ML or greater. Sites drawing from surface water systems within the Basin may also be considered as a secondary priority.
The New South Wales Government is now inviting telemetry equipment suppliers and installers to attend an online tender briefing on 12 February 2025 and submit a request for tender via the e-tendering website.
Contracts are expected to be awarded, and installations will begin in the first half of 2025.
More information for water users, including eligibility and how to apply, will be available in the coming months via the New South Wales Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW).
The funding comes as New South Wales continues to streamline its metering rollout and implement a suite of recommendations to ease water users’ barriers to compliance. These include simplifying metering requirements for smaller and low-risk water users, extending compliance deadlines for coastal water users, addressing the shortage of meter installers, and improving their training opportunities and resources. New South Wales is on track to have 95 per cent of all licensed water entitlements metered by the end of 2026.
Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek MP, said, “Accurate metering benefits us all – gives us better information and saves time. That’s why the Federal Government is investing $10.5 million to install 2515 telemetry devices across New South Wales Murray-Darling Basin communities.
“This is just one part of our commitment to improve transparency of water use across the Basin, to ensure water is used fairly and sustainably to support communities, industry and our environment.”
New South Wales Minister for Water, Rose Jackson, said the program is fantastic news for thousands of water users across the New South Wales Basin, saving significant out-of-pocket costs and helping them comply with metering rules.
Ms Jackson said the State Government is incredibly pleased to be working with the Federal Government, which is injecting $10.5 million to roll out the devices in coming months. This will boost the state’s robust metering network and ensure it can accurately measure every drop.
“We’re primarily targeting groundwater sites across the Basin, recognising that the state’s aquifers are under increasing pressure due to a changing climate, population growth and heightened demand,” Ms Jackson said.
“Groundwater-dependent ecosystems are crucial for maintaining the Basin’s biodiversity and ecology, particularly where groundwater may be the only reliable source of water.”
