Unbundling W

ater Rights – What does it m

ean?

There is no change to existing water rights and approvals. Trading water and doing business in the water market will be quicker, easier and less expensive.

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Where to get further information?

Help is at hand – if you need more information relating to your own circumstances you can call (08) 8595 2053 or visit www.dwlbc.sa.gov.au

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Unbundling Water Rights – What does it mean?

Water Access Entitlement

This is the ongoing right to a specified share of the water resource and is set out on the water licence. Your water right will be expressed in unit shares language (as it is interstate) and is an asset that can be sold or transferred permanently or for a limited period.

Water Allocation

This reflects your right to take a specific volume of water for a given period of time, not exceeding 12 months. This right will specify the actual volume of water you are able to use.

The actual volume may vary from year to year depending on how much water is available. This too, is an asset that can be sold.

Water Resource Works Approval

This is a permission to construct, operate and maintain works (such as a pump, well or dam) to take water at a particular location in a particular way. This permission is not transferable to another location.

The requirement to meter the amount of water taken from the resource will be connected to this approval.

Site Use Approval

This is a permission to use water at a particular location in a particular way. This permission is not transferable to another location.

From 1 July 2009, new legislation enables the unbundling of existing water licences in South Australia. So, instead of a single water licence that allows licence holders to take and use water in approved ways, the new system separates these rights and permissions into individual instruments.

These four separate pieces of legal authority will enable you to continue doing exactly as you have been doing up until now. The four rights and permissions (four separate instruments) are:

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Who is affected?This new unbundled system will only be applied to the River Murray Prescribed Watercourse from 1 July 2009.

The unbundled system will be progressively rolled out to the other 25 prescribed water resource areas across the State between 2010 and 2014.

Timeframes for implementation across the rest of the State have not been finalised but if you are a water licence holder outside of the River Murray, you will receive a letter with more detail well before the transition from the bundled to unbundled system affects you.

Information about the progressive roll out to the rest of the State will also be uploaded to the website as soon as it is available at www.dwlbc.sa.gov.au

What changes?Unbundling of rights and responsibilities from a single licence to separate instruments is an important reform that will have practical benefits for the water licence holder.

It will not affect your existing water rights, but the water licensing documentation will look very different to the paperwork received about water rights previously.

If you are a River Murray water licensee, you will receive a set of documents towards the end of August 2009. The four individual instruments that form the package of your specific water rights and approvals is an exact reflection of the rights and conditions on the old single water licence.

The benefit to you is that in the new unbundled system (separated rights and responsibilities) the purchase and transfer of water allocations or water access entitlements can occur more quickly and efficiently free from site and technical assessments.

If you are a water licensee outside of the River Murray, you are unaffected by the change and will effectively continue to operate in the existing bundled system.

The legislation provides for a gradual roll out of this reform process across the State. You will transition at some time to the new unbundled environment - but not yet. There is no change to your situation at all in the 2009-10 year.

What are the benefits? Easier, faster and cheaper.

It will be easier to trade water within South Australia and between SA and the other states. It will be possible to easily transfer the seasonal volume of water (allocation) independently of an ongoing water right (water access entitlement).

It will be a simpler and faster administrative process to sell all or part of a water right. Transfer of water access entitlements and water allocations will be processed within days, not weeks.

Dealing with individual elements of water rights and responsibilities creates cost savings to you.

Gaining approvals for taking and using water can be managed separately from dealings in water access entitlements or water allocations.

The only applications that may still require a few weeks to process relate to site use approvals or water resources works approvals – this is because they still require a site or technical assessment.

New business ventures will benefit by being able to gain site use and works approvals prior to the purchase of a water access entitlement or a water allocation.

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DISCLAIMER The Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, its employees and servants do not warrant or make any representation regarding the use, or results of use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency or otherwise. The Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, its employees and servants expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or advice contained herein.

So why is the SA Government doing this?For the water licence holder, trading water and doing business in the water market, will be quicker, easier and less expensive.

There is no change to current or existing water rights and approvals – the unbundling process simply enables each element of a current water licence to be administered separately.

South Australia is also moving towards national consistency about how water extraction and use is managed. This will mean South Australia’s way of licensing will be similar to the way things are done interstate.

This reform process is important because national consistency in water resource management will facilitate water management options across the Murray-Darling Basin in the future.

Why is the River Murray Prescribed Watercourse area the first to be unbundled?Roll out of this reform to the River Murray has been prioritised to assist efficient water trade with other States that have already unbundled their licensing systems.

What happens next?In late August 2009, current River Murray water licence holders will receive a set of water management authorisations that reflect existing rights and responsibilities – but they will look different to anything received about water rights previously.

There is no impact on your existing entitlements or approvals – they are simply expressed differently with the ownership attributes of the water separated from the obligations associated with its taking and use.

You will only need to contact the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation Berri Office if you want to vary or transact on one of the elements within your set of water management authorisations. Otherwise, file your documentation and continue to operate as you have been.

The Department acknowledges any change or reform process requires some time and experience to become familiar with a new approach.

Where to get further information?

Help is at hand – if you need more information relating to your own circumstances you can call (08) 8595 2053 or visit www.dwlbc.sa.gov.au

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