"Custodians" or "investors": Classifying irrigators in Australia's Namoi Valley

Abstract

This paper examines groundwater irrigators' perceptions of the community processes of developing water-sharing plans (WSP) within the Namoi Valley of New South Wales. The groundwater resource is over-allocated, and in some areas, over-extracted. It is a complex situation that has not necessarily been effectively managed by any party, government or licence holders. The result is that the government is now attempting to rectify the over-allocation of water entitlements through the WSP that have been jointly developed by irrigators, community members and government representatives. The WSPs in some instances will result in significant reductions to water entitlements. A mail-out questionnaire was sent to irrigators followed by personal interviews with irrigators and other stakeholders. Licence holders are dissatisfied with the process; they strongly believe that the process has been seriously flawed. The survey indicates that licence holders are planning to make a number of management responses to cope with the impact of the WSP, many of which are driven by considerations other than economic or financial. These findings should help policy makers to more accurately target farmers when planning significant changes.