Over 150 NSW landholders have been caught breaching water laws. 

The New South Wales water regulator has taken enforcement actions against property owners for the alleged breaches, which are based on almost 1,000 reports of breaches to the Water Management Act between July and September.

That figure is nearly five times the number of cases concluded in the previous quarter.

“We used technology to ensure that people were doing the right thing, and we were able to undertake 911 investigations,” NRAR's compliance manager Graeme White has told reporters.

“These included assessing illegal dams, illegal works or diversions and improper metering or illegal water intake.

“The highest number of reports where people had identified that there may be landholders doing the wrong thing came from the Namoi and the Lachlan River regions, and the Macquarie and Castlereagh regions.

“They were for a range of things from how people were using water, infrastructure and flood work issues, and potential breaches of the Water Management Act.”

The regulator took 150 enforcement actions, including 69 directions or stop-work orders, 32 were penalty notices, and 51 formal warnings or official cautions.

Mr White says the most penalty notices were issued on the state's North Coast.

“We've issued 10 penalty notices on the North Coast, mainly in the horticulture sector with blueberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and those sort of activities on those farms,” he said.

“Illegal dams on the North Coast have been a bit of an issue that we are working on, as well as other issues with non-compliance to the water act.”