{"id":34557,"date":"2025-08-28T18:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=34557"},"modified":"2025-08-28T18:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:54:09","slug":"securing-the-future-of-town-water-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/securing-the-future-of-town-water-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Securing the future of town water funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Minns Labor Government is continuing to build a better New South Wales, with a system overhaul set to improve water affordability, availability and reliability across our regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the next two years, the NSW Government will explore a new funding model for local water utilities (LWUs) to address critical inefficiencies with the current system of project-based capital grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reform is part of the highly successful Town Water Risk Reduction Program, which recently received a $15 million boost to help improve delivery of water and sewerage services in rural and remote towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2023, the NSW Government called for a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.productivity.nsw.gov.au\/local-water-utilities-funding-models-review\/issues-paper-and-public-submissions\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Review of Funding Models for Local Water Utilities<\/a>&nbsp;to investigate new models that could help reduce service risks without privatisation or forced amalgamations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NSW Government can now unveil its response to the Productivity and Equality Commission\u2019s report, launching a new plan to reform the sector by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key areas of reform include:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Improving cost-of-living support\u00a0<\/strong>through a review of the customer affordability and hardship programs funded directly by the NSW Government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Implementing a better funding model\u00a0<\/strong>that gives the state\u2019s 92 LWUs greater long-term financial stability and directs government funding to where it is most needed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Establishing basic levels of service<\/strong>\u00a0through sector reform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The plan was developed following extensive consultation with LWUs, water agencies and industry partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We will continue to work closely with the sector, particularly LWUs in Western NSW, to co-design ways that they can operate most cost effectively, reduce risks, and deliver better services to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/water.dpie.nsw.gov.au\/our-work\/local-water-utilities\/addressing-the-nsw-productivity-and-equality-commissions-review-of-alternative-funding-models\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">visit our website here.<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minister for Water Rose Jackson said:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Minns Labor Government is committed to ensuring every person in NSW always has access to high-quality drinking water and wastewater, no matter what postcode they call home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis work builds on the $32.8 million for the Town Water Risk Reduction Program to tackle the most severe risks to town water, now we have a plan to safeguard the cost of service delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe previous funding model put our most remote communities at a disadvantage, where the economics of a small customer base servicing a huge land area just don\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis plan provides a roadmap to direct government funding where it\u2019s needed most and lock in the future of town drinking water in every corner of NSW.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minns Labor Government is continuing to build a better New South Wales, with a system overhaul set to improve water affordability, availability and reliability across our regions. Over the next two years, the NSW Government will explore a new funding model for local water utilities (LWUs) to address critical inefficiencies with the current system &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/securing-the-future-of-town-water-funding\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Securing the future of town water funding&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34558,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34557\/revisions\/34558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}