The short version
If your business takes water out of the ground or out of a river, stores it, puts something back into it, or builds inside the area around it, the law treats that as a water use. A water use needs to be authorised before it happens.
There are three ways a water use becomes lawful. It can be covered by a general authorisation that you register. It can be an existing lawful use that was already happening before the Act came into force in 1998 and that you verify. Or it needs a full water use licence, which you apply for and the department decides on.
Getting that choice right at the start is the single biggest saving available to you. A general authorisation is registered in weeks. A full licence takes months and costs considerably more.
The water uses the Act controls
Section 21 of the National Water Act lists the water uses. In everyday terms, these are the ones we see most often.
Taking water
Pumping or abstracting from a river, dam, spring or borehole for farming, bottling, processing or a housing development.
Storing water
Holding water in a dam or reservoir on your property above the volumes the Act lets you store freely.
Changing a watercourse
Diverting, straightening, deepening or altering the flow or bed of a stream or river.
Building near a watercourse
Any work inside the regulated area of a river, stream or wetland — crossings, pipelines, bridges, pads or buildings.
Discharging waste water
Releasing treated effluent, process water or return flows into a watercourse or onto land.
Disposing of water containing waste
Irrigating with waste water, or disposing of water that carries waste in a way that may affect a resource.
Mine dewatering and tailings
Removing underground or pit water, and containing or disposing of it, on any mining or quarrying operation.
Using water for recreation
Controlled recreational use of a water resource, and other uses the Minister has declared.
Who usually needs a licence
- Farms irrigating from a river, canal, dam or borehole
- Bottling, brewing, food and beverage plants drawing process water
- Mines and quarries dewatering pits, shafts or tailings facilities
- Property developers building crossings, pipelines or structures near a stream or wetland
- Factories and treatment works discharging effluent to a watercourse or onto land
- Estates, lodges and golf courses filling dams or irrigating grounds
- Municipal and bulk water schemes expanding an existing abstraction
What goes into an application
A complete file normally carries the application forms, proof of who owns or occupies the property, a description and map of each water use, and the technical studies that show what your use will do to the resource. Depending on the use, that means a groundwater or hydrocensus report, a wetland or river assessment, a water balance, and a plan for managing water and waste on site.
Most applications also need public participation: neighbours, water user associations and other interested parties get notice and a chance to comment, and their comments go into the file with your response to them.
The department reviews the file, sends queries, and refers it to a technical committee before a decision is signed. Where the file is thin, the whole process restarts at the query stage. That is why we build the file to the department's checklist before it is lodged.
How long it takes
Preparing and lodging a straightforward single-property application takes about two to four weeks once we have your documents. Where specialist studies and public participation are needed, allow six to twelve weeks before lodgement.
The department's own decision typically runs eight to eighteen months. We follow up, answer queries and escalate with the regional office where a file stops moving.
Using water without a licence
Using water that requires a licence, before the licence is issued, is an offence. The department can issue a directive, impose an administrative penalty, or order you to stop. Banks and funders also ask for the authorisation before releasing money, and buyers ask for it during due diligence on a farm or a plant.
If you have already started, say so early. It is far easier to regularise a use before the department acts on it than after.
Not sure which category you are in?
Tell us what you do with water and where. The first assessment is free, and you will get a straight answer before you spend anything.