Field Officers from the Natural Resources Access Regulator’s (NRAR) Routine Monitoring Pilot Program have travelled twice the distance of the globe in the six months since the Program’s launch.
Manager of Routine Monitoring for NRAR, Dave Thomas said the Program aimed to observe water management practices, build positive relationships with water users and gather valuable data on compliance rates to help shape future compliance campaigns.
“Six months into the job, I’m proud to say the program has exceeded my expectations,” Mr Thomas said.
“At first, I was worried about the number of inspections we had to complete, but halfway in, we’ve visited more than 2,000 properties and travelled 87,000 kilometres, the equivalent of travelling around the world twice,” he said.
“Our success is thanks to the exceptional staff we’ve recruited and their willingness to hit the ground running.”
Mr Thomas said the Program had identified four key trends which would shape the NRAR’s work in the years ahead, including that water users didn’t know who the NRAR was; that most water users did the right thing; that metering logbooks and ordering water presented challenges for some users; and the Pilot Program had been a success.
He said that during the first six months of the Program, NRAR teams inspected 3,941 water works; audited more than 2,074 properties; and “said a COVID-safe hello’ to 1,773 water users.
“The data confirms our belief that most water users want to do the right thing, but issues arise when they don’t know the rules,” he said.
“In almost three-quarters (70 per cent) of cases, we found water users were compliant with the specific rules our program is focused on.”
Mr Thomas said most of the people who broke the rules did so out of a lack of understanding or awareness and were very cooperative and compliant with NRAR staff.
He said the NRAR launched its Know the Rules education campaign this month in response to data gathered during the Pilot Program.
