Four basin states – Queensland, South Australia, NSW and Victoria – are vigorously opposed to the draft plan, but the ACT, which is exempt from the proposed water cuts, has welcomed it. A spokesman for ACT Water Minister Simon Corbell said it was not anticipated that either the Googong pipeline – which is licensed to pump 100 megalitres a day from the Murrumbidgee River – or the enlarged Cotter Dam project ”would be revised in the light of environmental watering targets or regulations to be applied to interception of river flows.”
Under the draft plan, the ACT will be required to prepare annual environmental water priorities, which could result in a 2 gigalitres cut to ACTEW’s licence, from 70GL to 68GL. If this occurred , it was unlikely to result in tighter water restrictions for Canberra, and could easily be covered by existing water efficiencies, the spokesman said.
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