Two separate long term government water planning initiatives are currently underway in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, both launched in 2020.
At the local level, Rous Water has been developing its Rous Future Water Strategy 2060 through the Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM) framework. In parallel, the NSW Government—through the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW, or DQ), has been leading the development of the Far North Coast Regional Water Strategy.
Due to political interference in the Rous strategy and a lack of bureaucratic accountability in the state-led process, Our Future Northern Rivers publicly called for all viable water security options to be transparently assessed—without political bias or bureaucratic obstruction.
This call sparked one of the largest public responses to a water strategy in Australian history, with a strong majority across the Rous grid demanding that water planning remain evidence-based and free from political influence.
With all options back on the table, and as a result of ongoing technical investigations by Rous Water, two of the original four options have now been excluded:
❌ Desalination
❌ Recycled Water
✅ Surface Water (still under investigation)
✅ Ground Water (still under investigation)
Despite community concerns, the NSW Government’s North Coast Regional Water Strategy offers no new solutions to Water Security and crucially makes no mention of flooding, one of the region’s most critical challenges. By 2021 it had become apparent that NSW departments lacked the data and capabilities to full fill their obligations in the Regional Water Strategy. The final document has been widely deemed as not fit for purpose and released with little to no changes.
Our Future Northern Rivers continues to advocate for a transparent, evidence-driven, and regionally appropriate approaches to securing long-term water security.