New South Wales
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Water Access Licence
In NSW, any person or organisation, including a local water utility, taking water from a water source, whether it be a damn, weir, river etc, must be authorised to take water by a water access licence and a water supply work approval under the Water Management Act 2000 (section 60A), unless an exemption applies.
These licensing requirements ensure that taking water at a particular location does not cause unacceptable impacts on the water source, ecosystems or existing water users.
A water access licence authorises the licence holder to take water from the water source specified on the licence, using the nominated water supply work, subject to the conditions detailed on the licence or the relevant water supply work approval.
Licences held by Local Water Utilities to extract water and supply it to customers
This is still a form of holding a water access licence but these licences can have certain types:
Local Water Utility access licence with no subcategory
Local Water Utility access licence with the subcategory 'Domestic and Commercial'
Specific licence categories with a sub-category of ‘town water supply’
Regulated river, unregulated river and aquifer access licences with no subcategory
See https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water/water-utilities/licensing-assistance/types for more information on these water access licence types.
Water Allocations
Water allocations are credited to the water allocation account of each access licence in accordance with relevant available water determinations that are made from time to time throughout the water year.
Water allocations can be purchased and come with many benefits. They are often traded as some persons or entities may seek to purchase a water allocation temporarily or permanently instead of seeking to increase their water access licence.
NSW Water Rights
NSW Water Legislation
New South Wales water is governed by the Water Management Act 2000 (NSW).
This acts object, in conjunction with the object of the Water Act 2007 (Cth), is the sustainable and integrated management of the state's water for the benefit of generations both now and in the future.
The Water Management Act 2000 is based on sustainable development – development does not threaten the needs of the future generations. The Act recognises:
the fundamental health of our rivers and groundwater systems and associated wetlands, floodplains, estuaries has to be protected
the management of water must be integrated with other natural resources such as vegetation, soils and land
to be properly effective, water management must be a shared responsibility between the government and the community
water management decisions must involve consideration of environmental, social, economic, cultural and heritage aspects
social and economic benefits to the state will result from the sustainable and efficient use of water.
The Water Management Act 2000 recognises the need to allocate and provide water for the environmental health of our rivers and groundwater systems, while also providing licence holders with more secure access to water and greater opportunities to trade water through the separation of water licences from land.
The regulation under the Water Management Act 2000 is the Water Management (General) Regulation 2018.
This information is sourced from https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water/what-we-do/legislation-policies/acts-regulations.
This image is sourced from https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-2000-092.
This image is sourced from https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/sl-2018-0480.