Overview
On 10 November 2026, Independent Member for Pittwater Jacqui Scruby introduced the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment Neutral or Beneficial Effect) Bill 2026 into the NSW Legislative Assembly. The private member’s bill would remove concessions, made in 2017, that let coal mine extensions and modifications in the Sydney drinking water catchment avoid the full Neutral or Beneficial Effect (NorBE) water quality test. The Gardens of Stone Alliance supports the bill. The Alliance includes 4nature and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
The NorBE test requires development in the Sydney drinking water catchment to have a neutral or beneficial effect on water quality. The bill targets the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment) Act 2017. Parliament passed that Act after the NSW Court of Appeal’s decision in 4nature Inc v Centennial Springvale Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 191. The 2017 Act validated the Springvale mine extension consent. It also “clarified” how the NorBE test applies to continuing development, meaning extensions or expansions carried out under an existing consent. The bill’s backers say this clarification lowered the standard in practice, because proposals could be assessed against discharges that were already occurring rather than against a genuine neutral or improved outcome.
The bill matters to mining proponents, environmental consultants, planning and environmental lawyers, lenders and WaterNSW. The catchment supplies Sydney’s drinking water through Lake Burragorang and Warragamba Dam. Underground coal operations in the Lithgow region, including Centennial Coal’s Springvale and Angus Place sites, discharge to the Coxs River system upstream of that storage. As a private member’s bill, its passage is far from assured. Even so, it raises questions about modification strategies, water treatment design and closure liabilities that operators and their advisers should consider now.
Key details
The bill would change the comparison point for NorBE assessments of mine extensions and modifications. Under the 2017 provisions, continuing development can be benchmarked against the water quality impacts of discharges already authorised under an existing consent. The bill would reinstate a mandatory NorBE requirement for all mine expansions and modifications. Proponents would need to show an actual neutral or improved water quality outcome. Showing no further deterioration against a grandfathered baseline would no longer be enough.
The bill’s supporters point to salinity in Wangcol Creek. The Gardens of Stone Alliance reports salinity in Wangcol Creek at up to 12 times the recommended national aquatic ecosystem guideline values. Wangcol Creek flows into the Coxs River, which in turn flows into Lake Burragorang, the storage formed by Warragamba Dam. Salinity is usually measured as electrical conductivity. In mine water discharges it is often accompanied by elevated sulfate and dissolved metals. These are the parameters most likely to determine whether a coal mine discharge can meet a strict NorBE test.
The bill has direct consequences for water management design. Operating and legacy underground mines in the catchment pump large volumes of groundwater and mine water. If existing discharges can no longer serve as the baseline, dilution and discharge management alone are unlikely to show a neutral or beneficial outcome for salinity and sulfate. The realistic design case becomes treatment before discharge, typically high recovery reverse osmosis followed by brine concentration. Both carry significant capital and operating costs. The brine or salt residue then needs its own disposal pathway, which brings waste classification and landfill acceptance into the project.
The regulatory framework spans several instruments:
- The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), which governs State Significant Development and the modification of existing consents. The bill would amend this Act.
- Chapter 6 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Biodiversity and Conservation) 2021, which contains the NorBE requirement for the Sydney drinking water catchment.
- WaterNSW, which provides concurrence or advice on proposals in the catchment, depending on the development type.
- Environment Protection Licences under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW), which set discharge limits for scheduled activities, including coal mines.
Australian context
NorBE is a planning test, not a pollution licence condition, and that distinction is central to the bill. The NorBE requirement in Chapter 6 of the Biodiversity and Conservation SEPP applies when a development application or modification is determined. The Environment Protection Licence under the POEO Act then controls the discharge once the development is operating. If a stricter NorBE test applies at the modification stage, the consent conditions and supporting water quality assessments will change. Tighter licence limits could follow when the EPA next reviews the relevant licence.
Water quality assessments in the catchment are benchmarked against the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZG 2018) and WaterNSW catchment standards. ANZG 2018 provides default guideline values (DGVs) for physical and chemical stressors, such as electrical conductivity, and for toxicants, such as dissolved metals. It also allows site-specific guideline values where a robust local reference dataset supports them. Under the 2017 continuing development provisions, the gap between existing discharge quality and the DGVs could be partly absorbed into the baseline. Under the bill, that gap would come under direct regulatory and legal scrutiny, and the method used to derive any site-specific guideline values would face closer examination by WaterNSW, the consent authority and objectors. Proponents relying on site-specific values would need reference data that can withstand that scrutiny.
References and related sources
- Primary source: newshub.medianet.com.au
- gardensofstone.org.au
- 4nature.org
- miragenews.com
- miragenews.com
- ANZG Water Quality Guidelines
- Australian Drinking Water Guidelines
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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.
Published: 13 Nov 2026
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