At the height of the recent drought, several New South Wales towns faced the unthinkable prospect that they may run out of water.
The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) has now released a plan to try to protect these communities from reaching so-called day zero, and to address gaps and inadequacies in the management of groundwater.
The Draft NSW Groundwater Strategy acknowledges that in previous years the precious resource was exploited.
"The water act that was in place prior to around 2000 really focused on making water available for commercial and town water supply needs without an enormous consideration of the environment," Mark Simons from the DPE said.
The document states the demand for groundwater will soar by almost 300 per cent over the next 20 years.
More than 250 communities that are home to almost 300,000 people either partially or fully depend on groundwater.
"As a result of increasing population, and the need to provide food for the nation as well as that, we have the potential impacts of climate change [to consider]," Mr Simons said.
Agriculture's reliance on the water source is also set to rise by more than 20 per cent over the next two decades, while use by mining and extractive industries is forecast to grow by 13 per cent, even though a decline in thermal coal production is predicted.
But the draft strategy warns that 54 of the state's groundwater sources are "fully committed", which means there are no more licences available.
There are 24 sources that have been oversubscribed, so the number of licences issued on those sources "significantly" exceeded the extraction limit.
Mr Simons said the alluvial groundwater systems attached to the Murray, Murrumbidgee, and Gwydir are under a lot of demand.
"We have some parts of the state where our groundwater resources are already heavily utilised and we will be maintaining that level of take, but there are also a number of systems across the state where usage is substantially less as a sustainable level," he said.
Running dry
Alarmingly, the groundwater system's ability to replenish itself is at great risk due to climate change.
Underground aquifers refill from rainfall and surface water sources like rivers, creeks, and floods soaking into the ground.
The draft strategy warns that projected recharge will decrease by 15 per cent on average by 2060.
"We have to get more efficient about the way we use water both within our towns and also within our industries and agriculture," said Professor Richard Kingsford from the University of New South Wales.
The environment has already started to feel the effects of the pressure on groundwater.
The DPE says there are 1,000 plant species that depend on groundwater sources and 69 are threatened.
"Both the Namoi and the Lachlan rivers, when they flood, that's a really important source of groundwater recharge," Professor Kingsford said.
"If we've got a predicted 80 per cent decline in overbank flooding in the Lachlan … that recharge issue is a serious one if people are going to be able to use this resource sustainably."
Action plan
The NSW government wants to better define what is considered to be the sustainable use of groundwater.
It will consider reviewing extraction limits and tightening the system to reduce the impact of large infrastructure projects on aquifers.
"Where we know aquifers are vulnerable to pollution, high-risk activities should be carefully managed or phased out, or even precluded in some circumstances," the draft strategy states.
The impact of mining and coal seam gas projects on groundwater galvanised a number of rural communities, which have opposed the industries because of their effect on groundwater.
Coonamble farmer Anne Kennedy has been lobbying against CSG for years and has welcomed the draft strategy's commitment.
"I think that statement is excellent, it's vital. But to me they should stop approving all the projects until they have this new data," Ms Kennedy said.
"Why does the government just keep ticking the box?"
The draft strategy points out that Aboriginal people have been largely excluded from the management of these water sources that have a deep cultural connection with their lives and history.
"Many of the state's groundwater systems are fully committed, and the costs to Aboriginal people of buying back these rights for cultural purposes or economic development are prohibitively high," the draft strategy warns.
The DPE has also acknowledged that not enough is known about the state's groundwater system itself for it to be properly managed.
The draft strategy states that the monitoring network needs to be expanded because the existing data and modelling equipment is more than 30 years old and provides little coverage.
