Collaborations- sharing knowledge, problems and ideas to improve decision making for meaningful inclusive solutions.
Water in the Landscape Initiative (WitLI) is a proactive consortium that includes Tamworth Regional Landcare, Tamworth Regional Council, University of New England, landholders, First Nations, major employers and facility managers. A meeting with staff from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority in March allowed for issues to be raised and discussed.
Capacity building - LEP_13_RLC_05
The issue
The challenge faced is sustainable hydrological management of the Upper Namoi catchment. This is the focus of Water in the Landscape Initiative (WitLI).
The Upper Namoi is a significant headwater region of the Murray Darling system with the major issues defined by the consortium as
- The lack of comprehensive headwater catchment management threatening water management.
- The lack of comprehensive headwater region hydrological information, modelling, and focused research capacity threatening water resource management.
- Failure to understand and meet headwater user needs may generate conflict that will impede implementation of Basin-wide planning.
The solution
WitLI members hold diverse interests, knowledge and resources, and are committed to engagement and innovation.
The Consortium proactively invited Murray Darling Basin Authority Chief Executive Andrew McConville and other key staff to a field tour in the Upper Namoi in March 2026. A series of presentations on key issues where deliver by consortium members along with stops at Chaffey Dam and Wallabadah. This meeting afforded the consortium with the opportunity to share knowledge, problems and ideas to improve decision making for meaningful inclusive solutions.
The impact
WitLI has demonstrated how consortiums can be positioned as key stakeholders in integrated community involvement, achieving increasing community engagement and ever-expanding partnerships.
Consortiums are ideally placed for important collaborations in research, case studies and joint funding submissions.
Key facts
- More than 80% of flows in the lowland regions of most of the Basin’s rivers are generated from headwater regions.
- WitLI area of concern is the headwater region for the Namoi River in northern New South Wales, one of the 22 major river catchments forming the Murray-Darling Basin.