The major achievement for the Water Management Planning program was the finalisation of the Great Forester Catchment Draft Water Management Plan 2002 and its placement on public exhibition in January 2002. This is the first draft Water Management Plan to be exhibited in Tasmania under the Water Management Act 1999 and was therefore a significant milestone.

Despite four stakeholder workshops undertaken in the course of preparation of the draft plan, public exhibition caused considerable concern in the community over a perceived threat to farm viability. This was because provisions in the draft plan to establish specified environmental flows would mean greatly reduced water reliability to irrigators. As a result of the formal public exhibition process, the draft plan has been amended in conjunction with input from the Great Forester Catchment Water Management Planning Consultative Group.

Community acceptance of a water management plan is a key issue and will need to be addressed in order to achieve successful progress on the Water Management Planning program.