Water Administration Ministerial Corporation Digital Business Improvement Strategies

Technology Roadmap 2025-2029

Water agencies (Water NSW, NRAR and DCCEEW) have developed a joint Technology Roadmap. The Roadmap brings together four (4) business improvement strategies that will benefit customers and deliver efficiencies:

1. Water Market System redesigns each water user transaction process to be quicker, cheaper and online through a more connected system available to all 3 water agencies.
2. Water Shared Data Management and Governance will transform data information systems to a higher standard and deliver a central point of truth, while fixing current systemic access and data quality issues.
3. Water Compliance System builds technical interfaces between NRAR’s water compliance management system and various WaterNSW systems.  This will make water compliance more efficient.
4. Customer Metering Solution builds modern technology that will link on farm and back-office technology to make information available in near real time on a users’ device and to compliance officers and resource managers out in the field.

People and communities in NSW will have quicker and more reliable access to water information, data and decisions. Government will be able to reduce delays in water licensing and approval transactions and develop through increased automation and self-service platforms, reducing transaction costs to customers. The improved systems will also support enhanced and more timely input to assessment of major developments, including infrastructure and housing developments.

This program will address critical water data access and quality challenges that impact the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) while delivering a modernisation of the technology to make water compliance more efficient.

This $47.7 million program will deliver strong economic benefits (BCR 1.96) for the NSW Government, customers and broader NSW economy, including $20 million of direct financial savings to the agencies over ten years. 

• Ensure stronger and more efficient compliance by NRAR.
• Deliver more reliable and more transparent data for decision-making through a single source of truth.
• Increase information quality and automation with self-service platforms that will lower costs.
• Deliver customer service and cost efficiencies with every transaction online.
• Retire obsolete and duplicated systems which are subject to cyber risk.
• Improved the quality, reliability and efficiency of all routine water resource management activities and reduces delays in customer transactions.
• Enhanced systems with more reliable water information mean NRAR can better meet its statutory objectives and all three WAMC agencies can operate effectively and efficiently.
• Faster and cheaper compliance by removing manual business processes, allowing NRAR to identify potential non-compliance more efficiently and effectively, and maintain public confidence.

This project is a 4-year program of work from 2025 to 2029.

Department leading the project

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water