Warren is a wool and cotton town situated on the Macquarie River. Leakage from the river is an important local recharge source for the Great Artesian Basin.

The Western Slopes Pipeline, one of two proposed gas pipelines, is proposed to pass through the Warren district, linking the Narrabri Gas Project to the Moomba Sydney pipeline near Condobolin. It is strongly opposed by landholders as during construction it would damage farming land; it has the potential to change the flow of the flood plain, which can be underwater for a long period of time; and the local vertisol soils, commonly known as black soil, is very boggy and prone to deep cracking, which risks fracturing the pipeline.

See a map of both proposed pipelines, more information on pipelines and additional reasons why farmers are against them.

Window on the Wetland Centre (WOW) is an information centre built around a lovely old church. Locals transported the church from the town to act as WOW’s focal point. It includes a shop, café and community activity centre. Here you can pick up information leaflets and maps of the Macquarie Marshes, one of many wetlands in the Murray Darling Basin.

The nearby Tiger Bay Wetlands, offers a lovely walk for travellers needing to stretch their legs. Beemunnel Indigenous Heritage Trail links the Beemunnel Reserve Aboriginal Place with the Tiger Bay Wetlands and the Window on the Wetlands Centre. Beemunnel Reserve Aboriginal Place on the banks of Ewenmar Creek is a significant cultural and spiritual site for the local Wayilwan People.

Around cotton picking time, huge bales of cotton lie in paddocks waiting for trucks to take them to the cotton gin 7km from Warren on the Oxley Highway.

Reference: Studies by Radke et al. (2000) and Macaulay and Kellett (2009) identified leakage from the Macquarie and Castlereagh rivers as important local recharge sources for the Great Artesian Basin.