The NSW Office of Water met with landholders yesterday to discuss the ongoing issues with environmental water.
Landholders along the Gingham and Gwydir watercourses were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their concerns.
Surface water manager Paul Simpson arranged the meeting with landholders, and said it was a “starting point” for the Office of Water to gain an idea of local landowner’s concerns.
“The (State) Government has to consider what can be done,” he said.
The meeting comes after a number of properties along the watercourses have been flooded due to the large volume of environmental water in the system under the 2004 Local Water Sharing Plan. The complicated issue has been of concern to local farmer John Houston, who has lived in the area for 85 years and owned a property on the Gingham watercourse since 1949.
“The Gingham watercourse is like a bottle,;when it’s saturated the water has nowhere to go.”
He started off in sheep but then swapped to farming after Copeton Dam was built and his property no longer received the water flow it used to.
“When I got into wheat I was prepared not to whinge if one crop in five was washed away completely, it is naturally flooding country, but not constant flooding.”
Mr Houston said the current water sharing plan was made during a long period of drought, and the volume of water was now causing serious problems for farmers.
The Moree Champion will report on the outcomes of the meeting with landholders in next Tuesday’s paper.