Basic landholder rights
Under the Water Management Act 2000, there are three types of basic landholder rights in NSW.
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Customers can now apply for a basic landholder rights (BLR) bore through our new Customer Portal.
Owners or occupiers of land overlaying an aquifer or with river, estuary or lake frontage can take water without a licence for domestic (household) purposes or for stock watering.
Under the Water Management Act 2000 (WMA), landholders can take water under basic landholder rights. Owners or occupiers of land which overlies an aquifer can take water for domestic consumption or stock watering.
Approvals required
To access water under basic landholder rights, landholders must obtain a water supply works approval to construct a bore, well or spearpoint. It is an offence under the WMA to construct or use a water supply work without an approval. Licensing groundwater works, and monitoring the levels of extraction, helps to sustainably manage groundwater sources, protecting their quality and the ecosystems that depend on them.
Agencies involved
WaterNSW is responsible for processing most water supply work approvals and issuing the approvals.
The Department of Planning & Environment - Water (DPE-Water) may in limited circumstances, undertake a hydrogeological assessment of the proposed bore and location. This ensures no more than minimal harm is caused to the water source and surrounding ecology. DPE-Water is also responsible for licencing larger water users e.g. state significant developments, mining operations, irrigations corporations and government entities.
Health warning: The landholder is responsible for ensuring that any water taken under a basic landholder right is safe and suitable to use. NSW Health warns that water from an aquifer can be contaminated with micro-organisms. This water should not be used for drinking or cooking without appropriate treatment.
How do I get approval to construct a BLR bore?
Step 1: Understand basic landholder rights
Step 2: Select and map your bore site
Step 3: Complete approval application
Step 4: Know your approval conditions
Step 5: Construct or decommission a bore
Application form
Guides and FAQs
Fact Sheets
Work plans
The NSW Government has made recent amendments to coastal harvestable rights. As of September 2023, the harvestable rights limit for coastal-draining catchments has been returned to 10% of rainfall runoff (from 30%). Updates were also made to harvestable rights orders for coastal-draining and central-inland draining catchments to ensure they can be interpreted and applied as intended. For more information please visit DPE-Water's website.
Harvestable rights allows landholders to capture and store a proportion of the rainfall runoff from their landholding in one or more harvestable rights dams without requiring a water access licence, water supply work approval, or water use approval.
Landholders in NSW can build harvestable rights dams on non-permanent minor streams, hillsides, or gullies (but not on or within 40 metres of a third-order or higher order stream) and capture a percentage of rainfall runoff from their landholding. For further information on where harvestable rights dams can be constructed view DPE - Water's Frequently Asked Questions or view the Harvestable rights dams - where can they be built factsheet.
The proportion of rainfall runoff that may be captured under harvestable rights, and how the water can be used depends upon where a landholding is located. In the:
The boundaries of the harvestable rights areas are shown in the map below - view large version.
Anyone who holds native title with respect to water, as determined under the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993, can take and use water for a range of personal, domestic and non-commercial purposes.
The Water Management Act 2000 recognises the cultural and spiritual importance of water to Aboriginal people in NSW. Anyone who holds native title with respect to water, as determined under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwlth), can take and use water for a range of needs. These include personal, domestic and non-commercial communal purposes such as manufacturing traditional artefacts, hunting, fishing, recreation, cultural and ceremonial purposes.
For more information, visit the DPE – Water website - Water for Aboriginal communities.
WaterNSW acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands and waters on which we work and pay our respects to all elders past, present and emerging. Learn more