Tasmanian Consolidated Acts

WATER MANAGEMENT ACT 1999 - SECT 3

      (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

"Advisory Committee" means the Advisory Committee established under section 114;

"Agency" has the same meaning as in the State Service Act 2000;

"Appeal Tribunal" means the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal;

"approved form" means a form approved under section 300;

"Assessment Committee" means the Assessment Committee for Dam Construction constituted under section 138;

"authorisation" means –

(a) a licence, permit or transfer; or

(b) an approval for a water entity to administer a water management plan under Division 4 of Part 4 or a water district under Part 9; or

(c) any other authority granted under this Act permitting a person to undertake an activity;

"authorised officer" means an authorised officer appointed under section 237;

"best practice environmental management" has the same meaning as in the EMPC Act;

"Board" means the Board of the Environment Protection Authority;

"channel" includes –

(a) a drain, gutter or pipe; and

(b) a part of a drain, gutter or pipe;

"commencement day" means –

(a) in section 303 and Schedule 4, the day on which section 307 commences; or

(b) in Schedule 5, the day on which section 308 commences;

"Commission" means the Tasmanian Planning Commission;

"contravene" includes fail to comply with;

"dam" means a permanent or temporary barrier or structure that stores, holds back or impedes the flow of water and includes –

(a) any spillway or similar works for passing water around or over the barrier or structure; and

(b) a pipe or other works for passing water through or over the barrier or structure; and

(c) water stored or held back by the barrier or structure and the area covered by that water; and

(d) an artificial depression or hole excavated in a watercourse that holds water or impedes the flow of water; and

(e) an artificial levee or bank that holds back or diverts water in a watercourse –

but does not include –

(f) associated works and canals used in, or in relation to, the generation of electricity; or

(g) a tank or reservoir unless –

(i) the storage of water involves flooding natural ground; or

(ii) the tank or reservoir is on a watercourse; or

(h) roads, buildings and other ancillary works that are not part of the dam;

"dam works" means any works for the construction, erection, enlargement, modification, repair or removal of a dam, or for the conversion of land to a dam, to which Part 8 or Part 8A applies or any work on any such dam which may significantly increase the dam's safety risk;

"dedicated Crown land" means Crown land that by virtue of an enactment is under the exclusive or primary control or management of a State Authority or an Agency that is not the responsible Department in relation to the Crown Lands Act 1976;

"Director" means the Director, Environment Protection Authority;

"dispersed surface water" means –

(a) water flowing over land otherwise than in a watercourse –

(i) after having fallen as rain or hail or having precipitated in any other manner; or

(ii) after rising to the surface naturally from underground; or

(b) water as mentioned in paragraph (a) that has been collected in a dam or reservoir;

"domestic purpose" means personal use for drinking, cooking and washing but does not include taking water to be used in carrying on a business unless it is for the personal use of persons employed in the business;

"drilling", in the case of a well, means drilling the well or excavating the well in any other manner and includes deepening or widening an existing well;

"electricity entity" means a body corporate which uses, or intends to use, water for the generation of electricity as mentioned in section 115;

"EMPC Act" means the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994;

"environmental agreement" has the same meaning as in the EMPC Act;

"environmental harm" has the same meaning as in the EMPC Act;

"environmental improvement programme" has the same meaning as in the EMPC Act;

"environmental nuisance" has the same meaning as in the EMPC Act;

"environmental objectives" means the objectives of a water management plan proposed to further the provisions of section 6(1)(c);

"equipment" means a pump or meter or valves, pipes or any other device used to take water and includes a part of any such equipment;

"functions" includes powers, authorities and duties;

"groundwater" means –

(a) water occurring naturally below ground level; or

(b) water pumped, diverted or released into a well for storage underground;

"groundwater area" means an area of land that is appointed as a groundwater area by an order made by the Minister under section 124A;

"highway" means –

(a) a State highway or subsidiary road within the meaning of the Roads and Jetties Act 1935; or

(b) a local highway within the meaning of the Local Government (Highways) Act 1982;

"hydro-electric district" means a hydro-electric district created under Part 9;

"incident", in the case of a dam, means any incident or event relating to the structural integrity or safety of the dam which causes, or has the potential to cause –

(a) death or injury to a person; or

(b) damage to, or loss of, property or services; or

(c) material environmental harm or serious environmental harm;

"infrastructure" means –

(a) artificial lakes; or

(b) dams, weirs or reservoirs; or

(c) embankments, walls, channels or other works; or

(d) buildings or structures; or

(e) pipes, machinery or other equipment;

"infringement notice" means an infringement notice served under Division 1 of Part 13;

"intensive farming" means a method of keeping animals in the course of carrying on the business of primary production in which the animals are confined to a small space or area and are usually fed by hand or by mechanical means;

"interested person" has a meaning given by section 270 or 274;

"lake" means a natural lake, pond, lagoon, wetland or spring (whether modified or not) and includes –

(a) part of a lake; and

(b) a body of water declared by the regulations to be a lake;

"land" includes –

(a) buildings and other structures permanently fixed to land; and

(b) land covered with water; and

(c) water covering land; and

(d) any estate, interest, easement, privilege or right in or over land;

"licence" means a licence granted and in force under Part 6;

"local newspaper" means a newspaper circulating in the area in which a relevant water resource or well is situated;

"material environmental harm" has the same meaning as in section 5(2) of the EMPC Act;

"meter" means an instrument that measures and records a flow or level of water and includes any ancillary device attached to or incorporated in the instrument;

"natural values" means the variety of all life-forms native to land including plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes that they contain, the ecosystems of which they are a part (including landforms, soils, water) and the processes that sustain them;

"occupier" of land means a person who has, or is entitled to, possession or control of the land and includes –

(a) a person who occupies the land or part of the land jointly or in common with any other person; and

(b) a person who occupies part of the land;

"owner" means –

(a) in the case of land alienated from the Crown by grant in fee simple, the holder of an estate in fee simple; or

(b) in the case of dedicated Crown land that has not been granted in fee simple but which is under the care, control and management of a Minister, body or other person, that Minister, body or other person; or

(c) in the case of land held under Crown lease or licence, the lessee or licensee of the land; or

(d) in the case of land held under an agreement to purchase it from the Crown, the person entitled to the benefit of the agreement; or

(e) in the case of any other land, the Minister who is responsible for the care, control and management of the land or, if no Minister is so responsible, the Minister having the administration of the EMPC Act; or

(f) in the case of a dam, any person or statutory authority who, whether solely or with another person or statutory authority, owns, controls, operates, manages or maintains a dam, and includes any person or statutory authority who, whether solely or with another person or statutory authority, proposes to build a dam;

"permit" means a permit granted and in force under Division 4 of Part 8;

"person" includes an Agency, a statutory authority and any emanation of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth;

"pipeline licensee" has the same meaning as in Division 4 of Part 3 of the Gas Pipelines Act 2000;

"pipeline planning corridor" has the same meaning as in Division 4 of Part 3 of the Gas Pipelines Act 2000;

"planning scheme" means a planning scheme in force under section 29 of the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993;

"prior right" means a right to take water under this Act which was in force immediately before the publication of a notice under section 18;

"record" means –

(a) a documentary record; or

(b) a record made by an electronic, electromagnetic, photographic or optical process; or

(c) any other kind of record;

"register" means the register of licences and permits kept under section 12;

"regulations" means regulations made and in force under this Act;

"relevant water management plan" means a water management plan for a water resource which may be affected by the exercise of any powers under this Act;

"repealed Act" means the Water Act 1957;

"responsible water entity" means a water entity responsible for the administration of a water management plan under section 38(1) or the administration of a water district under Part 9;

"riparian tenement" means land that adjoins a watercourse or through which a watercourse runs, or that adjoins a lake or on which a lake is situated;

"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department;

"serious environmental harm" has the same meaning as in section 5(2) of the EMPC Act;

"small claim" means a small claim within the meaning of the Magistrates Court (Small Claims Division) Act 1989;

"special Act" – see section 189(b) and section 190(b);

"special licence" means a licence granted and in force under Division 6 of Part 6;

"State policy" means a Tasmanian Sustainable Development Policy made under section 11 of the State Policies and Projects Act 1993;

"statutory authority" means a person, body or authority, whether incorporated or unincorporated, constituted by or under an Act, or appointed by the Governor under the authority of an Act, to administer or control a department, office, business or undertaking on behalf of the State;

"statutory rule" means a statutory rule for the purposes of the Rules Publication Act 1953;

"stock watering" means the provision of water for drinking by livestock and for normal husbandry practices associated with the keeping of livestock, but does not include the provision of water for livestock or animals subject to intensive farming;

"surety" means the actual or relative probability with which a water allocation is expected to be available in any year having regard to the natural variability of the supply of water;

"taking", in the case of water from a water resource, includes –

(a) taking water by pumping or syphoning the water; and

(b) stopping, impeding or diverting the flow of water over land (whether in a watercourse or not) for the purpose of collecting or storing the water; and

(c) diverting the flow of water in a watercourse from the watercourse; and

(d) releasing water from a lake; and

(e) permitting water to flow under natural pressure from a well, unless the water is flowing from a natural opening in the ground that gives access to groundwater; and

(f) permitting stock to drink from a watercourse, a natural or artificial lake, a dam or reservoir;

"tidal area" means any part of a watercourse that is below the mean high-water mark;

"tributary" means any watercourse that contributes its flow to a larger watercourse;

"trust" means a board of trustees holding office under Division 1 of Part 10;

"trustee" means one of the persons constituting a trust under Division 1 of Part 10;

"waste" means residue, by-product, surplus or reject material which is to be, or is required to be, disposed of in a manner of which utilisation to commercial or other advantage is not a primary purpose;

"water allocation" means a quantity of water that a licensee is entitled to take and use under a licence;

"water district" means a water supply district, irrigation district, riverworks district, hydro-electric district or drainage district created under Part 9;

"water entity" means –

(a) a Government Business Enterprise; or

(b) a council; or

(c) an authority under Division 4 of Part 3 of the Local Government Act 1993 or any other statutory authority; or

(d) a body corporate under the Corporations Act; or

(e) a trust established under Part 10; or

(f) an electricity entity; or

(g) a body registered under the Cooperatives Act 1999; or

(h) a Regional Corporation within the meaning of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 –

and, if the Minister is administering a water management plan under a notice referred to in section 47(3), includes the Minister;

"water management plan" means a water management plan in force under Part 4 and includes an interim water management plan under section 31;

"water regime" means –

(a) in respect of a watercourse, the pattern of flow in the watercourse, which is to be described in terms of the major features of its volumetric and temporal variation and which, in the case of a lake, is to include the fluctuation in the water level of the lake; or

(b) in respect of groundwater, the pattern of flow or fluctuation in the level of groundwater or pressure which is to be described in terms of the major features of its temporal variation;

"water resource" means –

(a) a watercourse, lake or any dispersed surface water or groundwater; or

(b) a tidal area that a declaration under section 5A relates to;

"watercourse" means a river, creek or other natural stream of water (whether modified or not) flowing in a defined channel, or between banks, notwithstanding that the flow may be intermittent or seasonal or the banks not clearly or sharply defined, and includes –

(a) a dam that collects water flowing in any such stream; and

(b) a lake through which water flows; and

(c) a channel into which the water of any such stream has been diverted; and

(d) part of any such stream; and

(da) the floodplain of any such stream –

but does not include –

(e) a channel declared by the regulations to be excluded from this definition; or

(f) a drain or drainage depression in the contours on the land which only serves to relieve upper land of excess water in times of major precipitation;

"well" means –

(a) an opening in the ground below the surface of the earth excavated or used for the taking of groundwater; or

(b) a natural opening in the ground that gives access to groundwater; or

(c) any other excavation as may be provided by the regulations;

"well works" means an excavation undertaken to give access to groundwater, any other works undertaken to repair or modify the structure of a well or any works undertaken to plug, backfill, seal or decommission a well;

"working day" means a day that is not –

(a) a Saturday or Sunday; or

(b) a statutory holiday within the meaning of the Statutory Holidays Act 2000;

"works" means a drain, outfall, bridge, culvert, channel, dam (including associated infrastructure), defence or other work of a water entity responsible for administering a water district or a water management plan and includes all machinery and appliances used, or intended to be used, for the purposes of any such district or plan but does not include a bridge over a natural watercourse if the bridge is on, or forms part of, a highway.

      (2) In this Act –

(a) a reference to a watercourse is taken as a reference to either –

(i) the bed and banks of the watercourse; or

(ii) the water for the time being within the bed and banks of the watercourse –

or both, depending on the context; and

(b) a reference to a lake is taken as a reference to either –

(i) the bed, banks and shores of the lake; or

(ii) the water for the time being held by the bed, banks and shores of the lake –

or both, depending on the context; and

(c) a reference to varying a licence is taken to include a reference to varying a water allocation of the licence or the conditions attached to the licence; and

(d) a reference to a water allocation is taken to include a reference to a part of the water allocation; and

(e) a reference to a condition of a licence is taken to include a reference to a water allocation of the licence.