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Water
Water supply work and/or water use approvals

Inactive works water supply work or water use approval

If you have approval to use a water supply, but you're not using it, you can apply to have your approval amended to show that your work is ‘inactive’.

A birds-eye view of a river by a hospital

About inactive works

You can amend a water supply work approval to specify the work is inactive or withdraw the work’s inactive status.

This means that while the works are inactive you won't have to comply with the approval's requirement to install and maintain metering equipment. If you decide to use the water supply again, you'll need to apply to withdraw the approval's inactive status. When the inactive status is withdrawn, all requirements under the approval must be installed and maintained.

A water supply work approval may specify that the authorised work is ‘inactive’ if the work:

  • was constructed to take water from a water source, such as a river or aquifer, and
  • the work is not capable of taking water in its current state.

If a water supply work approval specifies that the authorised work is inactive, the approval will include a condition prohibiting the work from being used to take water. It is an offence to use a water supply work to take water when it is prohibited by a condition of the approval.

If you've permanently stopped using the water supply, you can choose to decommission it and surrender your approval. Once surrendered, the approval will be cancelled and cannot be used again.

How to apply

Application form

Submit your application

Submit by email

Email your completed application form and any other documents it requires to waterlicensing.servicedesk@dpie.nsw.gov.au.

Fees*

Inactive works fee: $200.15*

*Fees and assessment times

*To find more information about related fees and applications visit the Fees and application forms page.

See the Assessment timeframes. page to find out how long your application will take.

Paying for your application

After we have accepted your application form, an officer from the department will call you to finalise your payment. You can pay the application fee by credit card or direct deposit.

See links to all application forms and fee schedules

Not sure about what you need?

We've developed the Water Assist tool to help you work out who to talk to and what steps to take to get the licences and approvals you need.