Upper Namoi Water In the Landscape Symposium
Tamworth – March 17th 2025
WATER SYMPOSIUM
The symposium, facilitated by Stephanie Cameron, will involve brief presentations on the issues from the perspective of our local governments, agriculture and industry and others, and discussions of key issues which will provide the opportunity for different stakeholders to be heard.
Also for proposals for strategies and initiatives to be proposed and examined. Following these discussions, we will seek consensus on specific initiatives to be pursued.
For more details, please consult the Tamworth Regional Landcare Association (TRLA) website.
Namoi Water in the Landscape Initiative (WILI)
The people of the upper Namoi have been blessed by relatively abundant rainfall and groundwater resources, but climate change will decrease rainfall and make weather more volatile across the region. Government policies and rules, water user behaviour and industry strategies will also shape how a growing population, industry and the environment will access the available water, and policy change is happening in real time. Water is important to every member of the community. Every person is a regional water stakeholder and it is in everyone’s interests to help shape water demand and water management to meet the expected challenges.
The Namoi Water in the Landscape Initiative (WILI) was launched in 2023, in Tamworth as a vehicle for upper Namoi water stakeholders to manage the water, and to advocate for the regions’ water interests. Its 39 current members include Tamworth Regional Landcare Association, the Tamworth, Gunnedah and Liverpool Plains LGAs, the University of New England, community organisations, landowners and managers, industry and government services in the Upper Namoi region.
The Upper Namoi Valley Water Symposium, on Monday March 17, 2025 is an opportunity to explore issues and concerns, how different water interests could be affected, and help design actions that will ensure ongoing water availability and sustainability. It will allow the views of diverse residential, agricultural, industrial, and ecological water stakeholders to be heard, and taken into account in shaping the catchment’s future. It will also provide an opportunity for State and Federal Government agencies, extension services, industry bodies and others developing water policy to hear the community perspective on the issues.
The Upper Namoi watershed is framed by the Great Dividing Range to the east and north-east, the Liverpool Range to the south and the Nandewar Range to the north. This landscape is less than 10% of the greater Namoi catchment but catches more than 80% of the water that flows to the Murray-Darling system via the Namoi River.
Surface and underground water are fundamental to all Namoi water users and stakeholders and the strategic plans of the local government areas (Tamworth, Liverpool Plains and Gunnedah) identify the importance of water security and resilience to the region.
Land management affects groundwater conditions and extraction; it influences surface retention and downstream flow, and so, is significant for both droughts and floods. Historically, the focus of policy, resource allocation and public attention has been on the lower Namoi and the Murray Darling Basin (MDB), ignoring that downstream waterways rely fundamentally on how much water is in the upstream landscape.
For more detail or to get involved, please contact Tamworth Regional Landcare Association
Photo: George Macdonald, Wayne Chaffey, Prof Martin Thoms, Paul Bennett (GM, TRC) and Bruce Logan.