New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WATER SHARING PLAN FOR THE NSW GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN GROUNDWATER SOURCES 2008 - REG 28

28 Rules for granting access licences

(1) This clause is made in accordance with sections 20 (2) (b) of the Act, having regard to the limits to water availability in these groundwater sources and the need to protect groundwater dependent ecosystems and groundwater quality.

(2) Applications for access licences may be made in these groundwater sources, if the application is for:

(a) an aquifer access licence of the subcategory Aboriginal community development,

(c) an access licence that may be granted in accordance with a dealing,

(d) an aquifer (interference) access licence in the Surat, Warrego or Central Groundwater Sources,

(e) a supplementary water access licence in accordance with clause 29 (3) of this Plan, and

(3) An application for an access licence under subclause (2) in the Surat, Warrego or Central Groundwater Sources can only be granted if the share component of the proposed access licence plus the total share component of all access licences in the respective Groundwater Source does not exceed the estimated volume for water sharing specified in clause 12 (4) minus the planned environmental water specified in clause 15 (2), as amended by clause 15 (3).

(4) An access licence of the subcategories Aboriginal cultural or Aboriginal community can only be granted if the application does not exceed:

(a) 10ML/year for an aquifer (Aboriginal cultural) access licence, and

(b) 50ML/year for an aquifer (Aboriginal community) access licence.

(5) An application for a specific purpose access licence application will only be granted if the share or extraction component of the access licence is the minimum required to meet the circumstances in which the access licence is proposed to be used.

Note: The issue of aquifer access licences in the Surat, Warrego or Central Groundwater Sources will be undertaken through a controlled allocation order.
The Act at the commencement of this Plan defined an "aquifer" to mean a geological structure or formation, or an artificial landfill, that is permeated with water or is capable of being permeated with water and an "aquifer interference activity" to mean an activity involving any of the following:

(a) the penetration of an aquifer,

(b) the interference with water in an aquifer,

(c) the obstruction of the flow of water in an aquifer,

(d) the taking of water from an aquifer in the course of carrying out mining, or any other activity prescribed by the regulations,

(e) the disposal of water taken from an aquifer as referred to in paragraph (d).

The Act should be checked to confirm the currency of this definitions.