In May 2024, the Minister for Water, the Hon Rose Jackson MLC, requested the Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer (OCSE) to convene an independent expert panel to review a draft method to review the minimum inflows used in making available water determinations (AWDs) in regulated water sources.
Water stored in government-owned storages in regulated river systems is distributed via an AWD process implemented by the Water Group in the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), with support from WaterNSW.
DCCEEW is developing a method which uses stochastic climate datasets to review the ‘period of lowest accumulated inflows’, with the assessments informing necessary changes to the accounting process for conducting AWDs. The approach to developing these datasets was reviewed by an independent panel chaired by OCSE in 2020 (Regional Water Strategies Program Climate Risk Review). DCCEEW is now seeking advice on the suitability of the method for its purpose of operationalising climate risk into AWD decision making.
The scope of the advice can be found in the Terms of Reference.