Namoi River water entitlements increased for general security licence holders, drought stage criticality lowered

A favourable season outlook means the NSW Extreme Events Policy's drought stage criticality for the Namoi River has dropped, too.

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment's (DPIE) latest water allocation statement allows for further allocations to general security entitlement holders.

These allocations have increased by one per cent, which is 0.01 megalitres (ML) per unit share, for a total allocation of eight per cent for the current water year.

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The DPIE states that all other categories of licence in the Upper and Lower Namoi remain unchanged.

While allocations have been upped, the DPIE states that the catchment experienced "well below-average rainfall" in November, with just less than 25mm of the wet stuff.

"Net inflow into the headwater storages during this period was just 0.3 gigalitres (GL) for Split Rock Dam and 3.4GL for Keepit Dam," the DPIE wrote.

"In November, the storage volume in Split Rock Dam decreased by 1.7GL, while for Keepit Dam the storage volume increased slightly (0.4 GL)."

According to the DPIE, critical requirements for both dams' storage volumes are now secure, which has improved river connectivity.

"With some storage inflows over the past few months resulting in increased storage volume in Keepit Dam, and a favourable seasonal rainfall outlook, the Lower Namoi River drought stage was eased in November from Stage 3 (Severe) to Stage 2 (Recovering)," the statement read.

"The drought stage criticality for the Upper Namoi River remains unchanged and is currently at Stage 2."

The Bureau of Meteorology seasonal outlook for December 2020 to February 2021 indicates that rainfall is likely to be above-average across the catchment.

Maximum temperatures are likely to be above the long-term mean and minimum temperatures are very likely to be above the long-term mean.

At Friday afternoon, Keepit Dam was at 26 per cent.