(1)  The Minister may cancel or suspend a watercourse authority if satisfied that –

(a) the holder of the watercourse authority has contravened the conditions of the watercourse authority in a material way or has caused or allowed another person to do so; or

(b) where the holder of the watercourse authority has been convicted of an offence under section 123A , the offence resulted in material environmental harm or serious environmental harm or had a significant adverse impact on other water users; or

(c) the holder of the watercourse authority has committed, or caused or allowed another person to commit, an offence under the EMPC Act that is in any way related to the watercourse authority; or

(d) the watercourse authority has been shown, in practice, to be having a significant adverse impact on other water users or the environment; or

(e) the relevant watercourse has become, for any reason, unsuitable for conveying water; or

(f) no use is being made of the watercourse authority; or

(g) the holder of the watercourse authority has failed to pay, when required to do so, a fee prescribed pursuant to section 123E(1)(b) ; or

(h) the holder of the watercourse authority has committed, or caused or allowed another person to commit, an offence under section 283 that is in any way related to the watercourse authority.

(2)  The cancellation or suspension takes effect when the holder of the watercourse authority is given notice of it by the Minister or on such later date as the Minister, by the notice, specifies.

(3)  The notice of cancellation or suspension is to –

(a) specify the reasons for the cancellation or suspension; and

(b) specify, for a suspension, the term of suspension.

(4)  The Minister may revoke the suspension of a watercourse authority at any time.

(5)  A watercourse authority is of no effect while it is suspended.

(6)  In this section –

allow includes –

(a) consciously or carelessly ignore; and

(b) knowingly acquiesce.