A NSW winery is facing a raft of criminal charges after allegedly building an illegal pipeline to steal irrigation water in the middle of a drought.
Authorities allege 403 million litres of water - enough to fill 161 Olympic swimming pools - was secretly swiped and siphoned off to two properties near the border of NSW and Victoria.
"On two separate properties in 2016 and 2019 the defendants connected an unapproved pipeline to the Western Murray Irrigation supply pipeline to divert water," the Natural Resources Access Regulator says.
"It is further alleged that the defendants took water at these same properties without Western Murray Irrigation's permission in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 water years."
The defendants are a commercial enterprise, and an individual associated with the business. They are accused of interfering with a water supply pipeline, and illegally taking water.
Chief Regulatory Officer Grant Barnes says the total value of water entitlements in NSW is about $29 billion and growing.
"Regional irrigated agriculture business depends on fair access to those water resources," he says.
"Some of the most valuable water assets in the state are in the southern inland zone of NSW including the Murray and Murrumbidgee regions."
A directions hearing has been set down for April 21, in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
