The NSW Government is renewing the Regulation enabling WaterNSW to protect Greater Sydney’s drinking water catchment, including safeguarding water quality and infrastructure in special and controlled areas, and now is the time to have your say.

WaterNSW operates many of the state’s dams, including Warragamba Dam, Avon, Cataract and Cordeaux dams, that supply high-quality drinking water to Sydney, Wollongong, the Shoalhaven, Goulburn and surrounding areas.

It manages declared special and protected areas, which cover around 364,000 hectares of mostly unspoiled native bushland around these major dams.

The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has developed a new draft Regulation as part of the requirement to remake the Regulation every five years.

It gives WaterNSW the tools needed to manage people’s access to and the activities that can be carried out within declared catchment areas.

The draft proposes a small number of minor changes , along with other updates to streamline the rules and clarify some of its provisions.

These changes are not expected to have major impacts on residents, businesses or other stakeholders, and they do not affect customer water prices.

Some of the key adjustments proposed are:

• limiting access to the area immediately downstream of Warragamba Dam to improve public safety and prevent damage to water supply infrastructure. This would not impact established public access and picnic areas near the dam.
• enabling WaterNSW to direct a person who has polluted or contaminated an area to remediate the damage.
• increasing penalty notice offence amounts to help deter illegal activity.
• improving public access to information to improve user experience and customer service.

These proposed changes would help to ensure public safety during water release events, prevent damage to infrastructure assets, and better manage water quality risks within the drinking water catchment.

All members of the community are invited to have their say and all feedback will be carefully considered to help inform the final remade Regulation. If approved, it will commence on or before 1 September 2026.

People can attend a webinar at 12pm on Monday 2 March to learn more. To register for the webinar, lodge a submission, or to find out more information, visit: https://www.water.dcceew.nsw.gov.au/waternsw-regulation-remake

NSW DCCEEW’s Acting Executive Director of Water Policy and Regulatory Reform, Madeleine Mispel, said:

“WaterNSW plays a key role in managing 41 major dams, delivering two thirds of the water supplied in NSW and protecting Greater Sydney’s drinking catchment.

“Renewing the Regulation is vital so the agency can continue to ensure safe, high-quality water can be delivered to millions of people across the Greater Sydney region.

“The special and controlled areas around Warragamba Dam and the metropolitan region are especially crucial to maintaining the city’s first-rate water quality, which is why it’s critical to get the rules around activities and access right.

“We invite the community and all stakeholders to read more about the proposed replacement Regulation, attend the webinar and make a submission by the 16th of March.”