The NSW Government plans to increase water flows in drought-stressed rivers by allocating an extra $137.4 million in the state budget to buy back more water from irrigators.
This 40pc boost in the water budget is a key plank of the environmental commitment in next week's budget.
Some $98 million will be allocated to buy water entitlements under the Living Murray program set up by the Commonwealth to help save the Murray-Darling Basin.
A further $39.4 million will be committed to buy water entitlements under the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program and the NSW Wetland Recovery Program.
The money will help areas such as the Barmah-Millewa and Koondrook-Perricoota Forests on the Murray River and increased water flows will benefit the Murray, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Macquarie and Gwydir rivers.
"This budget will increase life-giving flows to our already stressed rivers - which is good news for regional communities as well as the environment," the Environment Minister, Verity Firth, said.
"Projections for a hard winter of prolonged drought and little rain is tough news for our farmers and also for the rivers and wetlands that are so vital to our environment."
The spending follows a recent announcement by the federal Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, that the Government would spend $50 million in a test scheme buying back permanent water licences from farmers to help tackle low water levels in the Murray-Darling basin.
The Federal Government has said it will spend $12.9 billion on water over the next 10 years, including $3 billion on buying back water rights.
There is also help for the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system in next Tuesday's budget.
The Water Utilities Minister, Nathan Rees, will have an extra $6.5 million to spend on upgrading the Cataract, Cordeaux and Nepean dams to allow for water releases to better mimic natural river flow.
The work will bring the dams up to the standard of the Warragamba and Avon dams, which can be controlled to better reflect a river's natural cycle.
The extra funding follows the announcement by the Premier, Morris Iemma, in March that environmental flows from Sydney's dams would be restored to pre-drought levels.
In rural areas, the Government will spend $26.8 million for works programs in irrigation areas.
Of that, $5.5 million will be spent conserving and restoring groundwater supplies from the Great Artesian Basin.
A further $3.2 million will be spent replacing old open channels with pipes to better deliver water in the Central and Northern Rivers Districts.
Evaporation and inefficient earth channels result in huge water losses in inland NSW.
Showing the Government is keen to get out some key budget measures ahead of time, the Premier announced yesterday that $112 million would be allocated over three years to provide an extra 150 State Transit buses.
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