New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WATER ACT 1912 - SECT 118A

118A Drillers to be licensed

(1) A person must not carry out any work as a driller on any land (other than land of which the person is the owner or occupier) unless:

(a) the person is the holder of a driller’s licence issued by the Ministerial Corporation, and

(b) the work being carried out is of a type or class prescribed in the regulations and set out in the licence issued to that person.

(2) Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) shall, upon conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding 5 penalty units and a further penalty not exceeding 1 penalty unit for each day during which the contravention continues after such conviction.

(3A) A driller’s licence in the prescribed form may be issued from time to time by the Ministerial Corporation to any competent and capable person for a period of three years upon application in the prescribed form being made therefor in writing accompanied by the prescribed fee and upon the Ministerial Corporation having been furnished with such information as to the competency and capability of the applicant as it may require.

(4) A holder of a driller’s licence who acts as a driller on or in connection with the construction of a bore shall, upon demand being made by the Ministerial Corporation and within such time as the Ministerial Corporation may specify, furnish to the Ministerial Corporation or to such person as the Ministerial Corporation may direct and in such form as the Ministerial Corporation may require, such information relating to:

(a) the nature and thickness of the various strata met with during the drilling performed by the holder in connection with the bore,

(b) the location, quantities and quality of all supplies of water met with during such drilling,

(c) the height each such supply of water stands relative to the natural surface of the ground at the site of the bore, and

(d) the depth, diameter and other particulars of the bore and the casing inserted in the bore,

as the Ministerial Corporation may require.

(5) Any driller who contravenes the provisions of subsection (4) shall, upon conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding 2 penalty units and to a further penalty not exceeding 0.5 penalty unit for each day during which the contravention continues after such conviction and, in addition to the imposition of the said penalty, the Ministerial Corporation may cancel the driller’s licence.

(6) The Ministerial Corporation may at any time cancel any licence issued pursuant to subsection (3A) if in its opinion the holder of the licence is or has become incompetent or incapable or is not a fit and a proper person to continue to be licensed as a driller or for such other good and sufficient cause as to the Ministerial Corporation seems proper.

(7) No person shall be entitled to claim or be paid any compensation whatsoever arising out of or by reason of the exercise by the Ministerial Corporation of the powers conferred by subsection (6).