The pandemic was just the practice run. Now the water cop must deal with a changing unpredictable climate too

It was the silver lining the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) never expected.?

That the disaster and dislocation of a global pandemic would deliver public good and drive positive change in the way we regulate the state’s water resources.?

Lockdowns, travel restrictions, and almost no face-to-face contact with water users could not have disrupted more our boots-on-the-ground model of water law enforcement.??

Yet COVID-19 was also the catalyst that fast-tracked our plans to harness more sophisticated satellite technology, giving us new ways to continue the crucial investigations our field staff could temporarily no longer conduct.?

The world has changed over the course of COVID-19, but thankfully, the World Health Organisation has signalled the end may be in sight. All of us want that to be true.?

For NRAR though, the story of change continues as we enter our fifth year of operation and release our fourth annual progress report.?

In those four short years, we have gone from the severest of droughts to widespread serious flooding - ominous portents of a changing and unpredictable climate.??

No longer are we mostly reacting to an avalanche of drought-motivated reports of suspicious water use. Now flooded roads and sodden ground are also challenging us to find new ways to continue to operate effectively.

We have strategically increased our front-line staff. We have transformed our technical capabilities.?

After the start-up and the scale-up now comes the step-up. More than ever before, we will seek voluntary compliance through education and engagement with the water-using community.?

NRAR knows from four years of operation that most water users consistently stick to water rules.?

We also know the regulatory system is extraordinarily complex, and that has meant people who try to comply sometimes make mistakes.?

It is fair and reasonable that NRAR should help them through advice and guidance, and that has always been central to our activities.?

To build on our commitment to achieving voluntary compliance through better education and engagement, we recently took another key step in our evolution.?

A significant staff restructure will ensure that what we do is even more closely aligned with our fundamental purpose: To encourage, enable, and educate water users to follow the water rules because they want to, because it matters, because it’s right.?

We will move away from measuring how busy we are to measuring how successfully we change hearts, minds, attitudes, and outcomes.?

All these steps and all these changes have helped us to become more future-focused and proactive. They have prepared us to keep performing when the next drought or disruption inevitably comes.?

We have always been transparent about our operations and accountable to the people of NSW. Continue to judge us by our results, and you can read about those in the progress report .?

Written by Grant Barnes, NRAR Chief Regulatory Officer

Grant is responsible for the day-to-day operations of NRAR, building the organisation’s capability to deliver on the NSW Government’s commitment to efficient and effective water regulation. He works closely with NRAR’s independent board to progress its agenda.?