Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Water Act 1989 - SECT 171

By-laws

171. By-laws





(1) An Authority may, in accordance with section 160, make by-laws for or with
respect to-

   (a)  regulating, restricting or prohibiting the use of water, either
        generally or for any specific purpose; and

   (b)  providing for the publication of notices announcing any restrictions
        or prohibitions; and

   (ba) prescribing offences, in respect of contravention of restrictions or
        prohibitions, set out in 4 stages, on the use of water in the whole or
        any part of the district of the Authority, for which an infringement
        notice may be served; and

   (bb) the infringement penalties for any offence for which an infringement
        notice may be served; and

   (bc) prescribing persons or classes of persons for the purposes of serving
        infringement notices; and

   (c)  prescribing ways of measuring water supply by meter or other measuring
        device, including ways of calculating water use by reading a meter
        after the ending of the charging period; and

   (d)  prescribing ways of determining the quantity of water supplied to
        land, other than by a meter or other measuring device; and

   (e)  prohibiting any act which could cause wastage of water; and



   (f)  regulating or prohibiting any activity that-

   (i)  is carried out within 40 metres of works or waterways forming part of
        the Authority's water supply system; and

   (ii) may affect that system; and

   (g)  prohibiting people who are not entitled to water supply from using
        water from the Authority's works; and

   (h)  regulating or prohibiting the access to or use of land and works under
        the management and control of the Authority; and

        (i)    regulating the use of water for fire-fighting purposes; and

   (j)  any other matter or thing for which it is necessary or convenient for
        the Authority to make by-laws.

(2) A penalty imposed for a contravention of a by-law made under subsection
(1)(a) must not exceed-

   (a)  for a first offence, 40 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months;
        and

   (b)  for a subsequent offence, 80 penalty units or imprisonment for 6
        months-

and, in the case of a continuing contravention, an additional penalty not
exceeding 5 penalty units for each day on which the offence continues (up to a
maximum of 20 additional penalty units)-

   (c)  after service of a notice of contravention on the person under section
        151; or

   (d)  if no notice of contravention is served, after conviction of the
        person for the offence.





(3) An infringement penalty imposed for a contravention of an offence for
which an infringement notice may be served under a by-law made under
subsection (1)(ba) must not exceed-

   (a)  for an offence in respect of a stage 1 restriction or prohibition on
        the use of water, 2 penalty units;

   (b)  for an offence in respect of a stage 2 restriction or prohibition on
        the use of water, 3 penalty units;

   (c)  for an offence in respect of a stage 3 restriction or prohibition on
        the use of water, 4 penalty units;

   (d)  for an offence in respect of a stage 4 restriction or prohibition on
        the use of water, 5 penalty units.

(4) An offence referred to in subsection (1)(ba), for which an infringement
notice may be served, is an infringement offence within the meaning of the
Infringements Act 2006.