Sydney
32.3 Surface water access entitlement for allocation diversion

Details of surface water allocation announcements on the urban system, including a breakdown of entitlements, can be found in line item 21.2 Surface water allocation announcements - urban system.

In addition to the entitlements listed in line item 21.2 Surface water allocation announcements, water access entitlements are available for urban holders, individual holders for stock and domestic, and other lumped holders in the Sydney region.

The urban holder category includes entitlements for local water utilities and Sydney Water Corporation (SWC), which is a major utility. The subcategories of individual holders for stock and domestic are domestic and stock (both purposes), domestic only and stock only. The other lumped holder category in the Sydney region may be issued for a wide range of purposes, including irrigation, commercial, industry and environmental.

The following table was produced by mapping water access entitlements to different user categories for the Sydney region.

Unregulated water access entitlement within the Sydney region

Category	Subcategories	Total right 1 (ML)
Urban holder	Local water utility, major utility	20,754
Individual holder for stock and domestic	Domestic and stock, domestic and stock (domestic), domestic and stock (stock)	2,344
Other lumped holders	Unregulated	126,437

¹Entitlement values were compiled by the Bureau of Meteorology based on information available in the Draft Water Sharing Plan – Greater Metropolitan Unregulated River Water Sources and information received from entitlement holders. The 2011 Account for the Sydney region was compiled before finalisation of the draft water sharing plans. Therefore, stated entitlement values are provisional and an estimate.

Details of the water abstraction rights of urban and other major utilities operating in the Sydney region to divert water are provided in the following table.

Details of water abstraction rights for urban and other major utilities in the Sydney region

Utility	Details of water extraction
Goulburn Mulwaree Council	Rights of 200 ML for Marulan Water Treatment Plant from river flow
Palerang Council	Right to divert 360 ML of Shoalhaven River flow for Braidwood Water Treatment Plant
Shoalhaven City Council	Right to divert 85 ML of water from the Kangaroo River unregulated water source, and 34 ML from Jaspers Creek
Sydney Water Corporation (SWC)1	20,075 ML per year from the Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean rivers water source

¹The table includes SWC's unregulated entitlements from the Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean rivers water source. SWC uses these entitlements to supply water to its North Richmond Water Treatment Plant. The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) supplies water to all SWC's other water treatment plants from its reservoirs/weirs. These supplies are based on SCA's water entitlements and the bulk supply agreement between two organisations.

The share component (as directed in the Water Management Act 2000 (NSW)) or entitlement (as directed in the Water Act 1912 (NSW)) is specified on a water licence, and is expressed as a unit share or a volume (ML). The amount of water a licence holder is allocated as a result of an available water determination and the amount they can take in any year is based on their share component or entitlement, attributes of the entitlement, and associated terms and conditions.

In areas where no allocation announcement has occurred and water plans have not been suspended, the water available for the 2010–11 year was assumed to be 100% of entitlement, unless a restriction announcement was made.

If water is available and restrictions are not announced, individual entitlement holder for stock and domestic, other lumped holders and some local water utilities can extract twice the annual allocation in a given year. However, the holder should not extract more than three times the annual allocation in any consecutive three years.

Draft Water Sharing Plan – Greater Metropolitan Unregulated River Water Sources. Water management registers, licence and trading statistics (for Kangaroo River Water sharing plan area).

NSW Office of Water.

Mapping entitlement values stated in the Draft Water Sharing Plan – Greater Metropolitan Unregulated River Water Sources, water management registers, and licence and trading statistics to the relevant categories of entitlements.

The estimates of entitlements stated in this note were compiled before finalisation of the Draft Water Sharing Plan – the Greater Metropolitan Region Unregulated River Water Sources. Therefore, stated values are provisional and an estimate.

Estimated uncertainty is +/– 0% to 5% based on professional judgment and the established practice within the NSW Office of Water.