SHCAG convenor Peter Martin said the interim water aquifer regulations introduced at the beginning of the month were a "stop-gap" until the proper Aquifer Interference legislation was completed.

"It looks like a small, positive step forward given that any extraction of water of more than three megalitres in a year has to conform to the regulations as they exist under the Water Act 2000, with no exemptions now for mining as existed before," he said.

"Existing exploration seems to be still under the old rules. The 2004 regulations exempted mining, so this is an improvement."

Mr Martin said the new regulations would have more bearing on the plans of coal seam gas firm Planet Gas than coal-mining firm Cockatoo Coal, which had already begun exploration in Belanglo State Forest.

"My reading of it is that it won't apply to Hume," he said.