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Councils develop drought plan

Aug 31, 2023

Four southern NSW councils are working together to develop a Southern Riverina Drought Resilience Plan. Photo: AAP Photo by DANNY CASEY

Berrigan, Murray River, Edward River and Federation councils have received $560,000 worth of funding to develop a Southern Riverina Drought Resilience Plan that will work across all four municipalities.

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The project is jointly funded by the Federal Government and the NSW Government under the Future Drought Fund.

It will include community engagement across all local government areas and a six-week engagement and feedback process with the CSIRO.

The council group has jointly engaged GHD Associates to develop the plan and to provide advice to each council as to its implementation process.

Mayors Matthew Hannan, Chris Bilkey, Peta Betts and Pat Bourke made a joint statement, saying “we will be engaging all communities across the footprint of this plan to ensure the lessons of the millennial drought and other recent drought experiences can be considered and learnings from those experiences included in our Southern Riverina Drought Resilience Plan”.

“Drought does not respect local government boundaries, and we believe working as a cohesive team will respect the similarity and difference of experience,” they said.

“It will also provide a cost effective solution to addressing this pressing climate change issue without the need for duplication of effort.”

Cr Hannan said all councils were asking their communities “to actively engage with this process so their ideas and thoughts on drought preparation, management and recovery are captured and implemented in consistent ways across the Southern Riverina area”.