Licences

The department issues water access licences and water supply work and water use approvals to government agencies and entities, larger water users such as water utilities and irrigation corporations, entities undertaking activities under the Mining Act 1992 or in relation to state significant projects and certain Aboriginal entities. WaterNSW issues licences to rural landholders and businesses.

What is a water access licence?

The state government controls the use and flow of all water in rivers, lakes and aquifers.

In water sharing plan areas, water access licences permit the licence holder to take a specified volume of water from a specified water source, under the terms of the licence.

The department and WaterNSW share responsibility for granting and managing water access licences and water supply work approvals.

WaterNSW is responsible for issuing water access licences (WALs) and associated approvals required by private entities such as rural landholders, rural industries and developments. These make up approximately 96 per cent of all water access licences in NSW.

WaterNSW is also responsible for managing the trade of water access licence entitlements and water allocations (dealings), for water access licence account keeping and water billing for all water access licence holders.

The department issues licences to a small cohort of larger water users such as state significant developments, mining operations, irrigation corporations and government entities. While these water users only account for about 4 per cent of WALs, they use more than 60 per cent of all allocated water in NSW.

The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) is responsible for ensuring all water access licence holders comply with NSW legislation and the conditions of their licences and approvals, to enable secure and sustainable sharing of water between users and the environment.

Learn more about water access licences, including whether to apply through the department or WaterNSW, via Water Assist.