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Water access and trade

Water Licensing of Major Utilities

Development of State Water’s Water Supply Work Approvals

The State Water Corporation (State Water) was established as a state owned corporation by the State Water Corporation Act 2004 on 1 July 2004. State Water's establishment as the rural bulk water delivery business in NSW was an important element of the Government's water reforms. Prior to corporatisation, State Water was part of the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation. For further information on State Water's business, visit www.statewater.com.au.

State Water is listed as a major utility under Schedule 2 of the Water Management Act 2000 and Schedule 3 of the Water Act 1912. All of its works (the dams and weirs) are now required to be covered by approvals and licences. Although State Water was issued with a deemed approval (via a vesting order dated 29 March 2007) for all of its existing structures across the state under Schedule 8 of the State Water Corporation Act 2004, this approval did not include detailed conditions necessary to guide the use of the works in each river system. The deemed approvals and licences therefore need to be populated with appropriate conditions.

In areas where water sharing plans have been gazetted (e.g. the Upper Namoi and Lower Namoi Regulated River Water Sources), State Water must now have water supply work approvals for its structures. Dams and weirs in areas of the state not covered by a water sharing plan will be issued with licences under Part 9 of the Water Act 1912 (e.g. State Water’s works in the Fish River Water Supply in the upper Macquarie Valley).

The Department's Corporate Licensing Unit has been assigned the task of developing conditions for the work approvals and licences in consultation with State Water with key inputs from other branches of the Department. A joint working group with departmental and State Water representatives was also formed to guide the development of the approvals

The Namoi Water Supply Work Approval

The Namoi Water Supply Work Approval is the first of nine approval packages for regions across the state that require new licensing arrangements for State Water operated structures. The Water Sharing Plan for the Upper Namoi and Lower Namoi Regulated River Water Sources was selected first due to the relative simplicity of the operating rules in the plan.

The Namoi Water Supply Work Approval covers Keepit Dam, Split Rock Dam, Mollee Weir, Gunidgera Weir, Gunidgera Regulator Knights Weir, Knights Regulator and Weeta Weir. A range of issues are covered by the approval including bulk water transfer, water delivery, floods, cold water pollution, environmental water and monitoring. It also outlines the necessary procedures for record keeping, incident reporting and compliance anomalies. The approval will clarify the associated roles of the Department and State Water, and will also streamline reporting procedures.

Approvals and licences for all State Water operated dams and weirs will continue to be prepared over the next year.

Statement of Approval (PDF 275KB)