Integration of water planning with catchment planning
About the project
This sub-project, funded under the $2 228 500 Water planning processes: lessons, gaps and adoption project will develop, trial and evaluate a framework to align new and revised catchment and water sharing plans. It will explore potential mechanisms to integrate and/or align the NSW Water Sharing Plan and Catchment Action Plan processes, potentially also with regional land-use planning. The project is based on the concept that the over-arching legislative framework supports alignment and that the challenge is to align and where possible, integrate, the planning processes; this concept will be tested in this project.
The need for improved integration of water allocation planning and catchment planning within each jurisdiction was identified as a key issues for implementation of the National Water Initiative by the Commission.
The concept of integration requires finding mechanisms to ensure activities within plans are coordinated. Some of these include - establishing connections between overlapping processes; aligning processes so that they share a common focus; and coordinating activities to remove duplication.
The project design is based on two research phases (framework development and trial) followed by a write up and communication phase, and has the following main steps:
- To develop a framework to inform new and revised catchment and water plans. The framework will include mechanisms to enable water sharing plans to be consistent with other planning processes and to inform improved natural resource targets and improved catchment action plans.
- To trial the framework in the Hunter region, NSW. The trial will evaluate processes and methods to achieve improved alignment of catchment planning and water planning to improve efficiency and planning outcomes and to meet current and future drivers of natural resource management.
- To prepare written and other materials that will enable others within and beyond NSW to learn from the project, and to improve the integration of their own water and natural resource planning processes.
The project is managed by the NSW Office of Water in partnership with the NSW Natural Resource Commission, NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, the NSW Department of Planning and the Hunter Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority.
Commenced: 1 July 2009
Completed: 31 July 2010
Project benefits
The key output from this project will be a recommended framework for integration of water sharing plans and catchment plans at a regional scale. It will be based on implementing mechanisms for improving coordination and alignment, and will be capable of being delivered with limited adjustments to current institutional arrangements, government resources and legislation.
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