The Natural Resources Access Regulator’s (NRAR) has announced that its officers clocked up 87,000 kilometres of travel between 1 October 2020 and 31 March 2021, enough to circle Earth twice.
After visiting more than 2,000 properties and water users, the NRAR launched an interactive dashboard which gives an indication of the rates of compliance, as well as common compliance issues, found during the first six months of its routine monitoring program.
Director of NRAR’s Regional Water Regulation (East), Gregory Abood said he was pleased with the progress his officers made and was encouraged that most water users either complied or showed intent to comply with the law.
“Our experience meeting with water users face to face has confirmed our belief that most water users want to do the right thing,” Mr Abood said
“Issues arise when they don’t know the rules,” he said.
“During their travels, our field officers inspected 3,941 water works, audited more than 2,074 properties and said a COVID-safe hello to 1,773 water users.”
Mr Abood said NRAR Officers found more than 70 per cent of water users were following the specific rules that the program was focused on and, largely, those who broke the rules did so out of a lack of understanding or awareness.
“We know water laws can seem complex, which is why we’ve put more boots on the ground to meet with water users across the State and help them understand their obligations,” the Director said.
He said that unlike NRAR’s targeted campaigns, the routine monitoring program aimed to get a baseline understanding of compliance behaviour and the program’s field officers didn’t visit properties involved in current investigations.
NRAR’s routine monitoring program interactive dashboard can be accessed at this PS News link.
