Irrigators from the Snowy-Monaro region have been accused of water licence breaches following an investigation into illegal pumping during a period of intense drought.
The irrigators are alleged to have illegally taken water from a low-flowing Murrumbidgee River throughout November and December in 2019.
More than 100 megalitres is alleged to have been taken by the landholders despite pumping being banned.
Pumping was prohibited when the Billingra gauge near Bredbo registered daily flows of less than 27 megalitres.
The amount alleged to have been taken would likely have significantly impacted communities downstream.
Permitted personal water use during periods of heavy restriction like those experienced that summer is about 120 litres per day.
Conditions were so dire in the region at the time that the river ran dry upstream in Tharwa. The ACT government trucked non-potable water into the town for the first time to top up supply.
The irrigators are accused of taking water from the Murrumbidgee 16 times in 34 days, totalling 107 megalitres of alleged illegally pumped water.
A member of the public tipped off regulators which sparked an investigation by the Natural Resources Access Regulator.
Investigation and enforcement director Lisa Stockley said the incident was particularly concerning as the offences were alleged to have occurred at a time the entire region was struggling with the dry conditions including communities, the environment and other water-users.
Ms Stockley said the Billilingra river gauge was one of many which continuously monitored water flow in rivers and streams in NSW.
She said the data could be used by water licence holders to determine when they can pump.
"If river levels fall below a certain level, pumping must stop," Ms Stockley said.
"It is the responsibility of the landholder to know and act on the data relevant to their licence."
Ms Stockley said even when there was lots of water around it needed to be shared and accurately measured.
"Clearly there's much more water around now, and even too much in some areas, but water users must still know and follow the rules that apply to them," she said.
The offences will be heard in the NSW Land and Environment Court on February 3.
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