It was revealed on Thursday during budget estimates after questioning by Legislative Council MLC Meg Webb, who asked if metering, or any other usage tool, was used routinely by the Department of Natural Resources Tasmania and if the data was published publicly.

NRE Tasmania deputy secretary Deirdre Wilson confirmed metering was in place at "high-risk catchments" identified by the department, and while licence holders are required to collect data for a period of five years, they are not required under the legislation to provide that data unless requested.

Concerns have been raised by academics and water ecologists at the monitoring of Tasmania's freshwater resources amid an internal report, released under Right to Information showed that nearly half of Tasmania's river systems had experienced a level of ecological decline.

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An incident where Tasmania's largest river, the South Esk, also temporarily stopped flowing in summer of 2020 was also reported for the first time in its history. A report into the state of Tasmania's rivers said it stopped flowing due to a combination of lower rainfall and increase in industrialisation, which includes irrigation.

Concerns have been raised amid increasing demand for Tasmania's freshwater resources, with the state using fresh water to produce power, provide drinking water, for irrigation schemes and industries such as forestry, mining and aquaculture practices.

It's possible this will be exacerbated by the fledgling hydrogen industry, however that industry is also looking at options such as wastewater and desalination as options for it to fulfill its water requirements.

Ms Wilson told the Legislative Council committee the department had obligations under its water accountability policy, and while metering and compliance was checked under this policy, it was not something done as a matter of course.

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"The principle is that all water must be accounted for in relation to that allocation and any conditions imposed. It [the policy] suggests where meters are required and they [licence holders] need to record for five years and provide data on request from the department," she said.

However, the committee was told Tasmanian Irrigation does meter its schemes and does publicly release the data for its schemes.

Primary Industries Minister Jo Palmer, who has only been in the role for a matter of weeks, said the Rural Water Use Strategy and its subsequent implementation plan provided the blueprint for sustainable management of Tasmania's freswater resources.

However she moved quickly to reassure Tasmanians that their drinking water supply was not under threat, after MLC Ruth Forrest raised a question regarding TasWater's concern about urban water use being excluded.

"I can assure you that Tasmania's provision of drinking water is not secondary to irrigation," Ms Palmer said.

She said each allocation was given a surety level, or the priority of uses. In Tasmania town supply and firefighting is the number one surety, followed by environment, existing rights and irrigation.

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However, Ms Forrest asked directly if urban water use was considered in the strategy, because "if you're talking about water, you're talking about all water" which was not directly answered by Ms Palmer.

The Rural Water Use Strategy explicitly states that urban water use is considered "outside the scope" of the strategy.

TasWater raised its concerns with former Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett about the exclusion of urban water from the Rural Water Use Strategy and wrote him a letter to the effect last year. However, when asked recently, TasWater said they were happy with the strategy and their position on the Rural Water Round Table, which guides the implementation plan.

The Rural Water Use Round Table implementation plan was released in May.

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