There were 227 enforcement actions taken between March and August in 2024, compared to 145 in the same period last year, including fines, stop work orders and official warnings and cautions.
The main factor in the increase was a rise in the number of directions issued to water licence holders.
Many of these were linked to water users who needed to replace broken water meters.
Directions and orders were issued to ensure water-use limits were followed until replacement was completed.
Warnings and cautions issued by the regulator for breaches increased by 20 per cent to 95 over 2023 levels, while the number of fines (penalty notices) fell by 19 per cent to 34.
NRAR received 1186 suspicious activity reports in the autumn-winter period of 2024, and 319 of these have been referred for further investigation.
Of the state's 14 water sharing plan regions, the Macquarie Castlereagh region recorded the highest number of enforcement actions for the six months, with 31.
This included five fines, 19 directions and seven warnings or cautions.
This total is an increase of more than 500 per cent on the same period in 2023.
NRAR director of investigations and enforcement Lisa Stockley, said releasing compliance data was an important part of NRAR’s commitment to transparency about its activities and results.
“A variety of compliance data is publicly available on our website, and this gives confidence to the public that water is being managed effectively and action will be taken when rules are broken,” Ms Stockley said.
“When we decide how to respond to breaches of the law, we focus our efforts and resources on those that pose the greatest risk of harm to communities, the environment or other water users,” she said.
“A lot of people are already doing the right thing, and we are encouraged by that.
“The number of breaches is small compared to the 39,000 licences monitored by NRAR, but that said, even small breaches matter because together they can add up to a serious widespread problem.”
More compliance data is available on the online dashboard.
