WATER MANAGEMENT ACT 2000 - SECT 56
Access licences
WATER MANAGEMENT ACT 2000 - SECT 56
Access licences
56 Access licences
(1) An access licence entitles its holder--
(a) to specified shares in the
available water within a specified water management area or from a specified
water source (the
"share component" ), and
(b) to take water--
(i) at specified times, at
specified rates or in specified circumstances, or in any combination of these,
and
(ii) in specified areas or from specified locations,
(the
"extraction component" ).
(2) Without limiting subsection (1) (a), the
share component of an access licence may be expressed--
(a) as a specified
maximum volume over a specified period, or
(b) as a specified proportion of
the available water, or
(c) as a specified proportion of the storage capacity
of a specified dam or other storage work and a specified proportion of the
inflow to that dam or work, or
(d) as a specified number of units.
(3)
Shares in available water may be assigned generally or to specified categories
of access licence.
(4) In the case of a local water utility licence, its
share component is to be expressed as a specified volume per year.
(4A)
Without limiting subsection (1) (b), the extraction component of an access
licence may authorise the taking of water from a water source specified in the
share component of the licence and from another water source not so specified
if those water sources are vertically abutting (either wholly or partly) water
sources.
(4B) In the circumstances referred to in subsection (4A), the water
source specified in the share component of the access licence is to be the
water source that is the main source for the extraction of water by the holder
of the licence.
(5) For the purposes of this Act, an access licence may also
be referred to as a
"water access licence" or a
"WAL" .
Note : An access licence--
(a) does not confer a right on any person
to use water for any particular purpose (that right is conferred by a water
use approval), and
(b) does not confer a right on any person to construct or
use a water supply work (that right is conferred by a water supply work
approval).
