Customer Portal

1. You will need to register for a Customer Portal account, for assistance in doing so, please refer to our how-to register for the Customer Portal guide (PDF, 695.8 KB).
2. To register or manage applications within the Customer Portal, certain documentation will need to be uploaded. For a breakdown of what you need, please refer to our documentation required in the Customer Portal fact sheet (PDF, 514.25 KB) for more information.
3. If you are a professional service provider, executors or power of attorney holder, you must be verified in the Customer Portal to apply for or amend licences and approvals. Please read our fact sheet (PDF, 91.75 KB) so you understand how to obtain verification.

Please note: Any sensitive information, including personal documentation, collected is either securely stored or removed at the completion of the verification process.

Declare a work as unintended

As part of the non-urban metering regulations, a work that is classified as ‘unintended’ is not required to be metered. A work may be classified as unintended if it is: not constructed, constructed and only used to take water for basic landholder rights (BLR), constructed and not capable of taking water from a water source, constructed and the approval holder declares it is not being used to take water from a water source or it is decommissioned. To find out more, please use our ‘what is an unintended work status’ fact sheet (PDF, 465.15 KB).

Once you have your information ready, and are logged in to the Customer Portal, start by clicking ‘My licences and approvals’ and then ‘Make changes’. You can then work your way through the questions as prompted.

Please note: When you get to the section where you can update the classification of your work, this may be pre-populated based on the information you have provided to WaterNSW. If there isn’t an option populated, please ensure you select a classification from the list provided. If there is a pre-populated answer but you disagree, please select the correct classification from the list.

For further information on how-to amend the classification of your work status (PDF, 507.72 KB), please use our guide.

Apply for a new water supply works and/or water use approval

Water supply work approvals are granted to construct and operate water supply works such as pumps, bores, spear points or wells. Whereas a water use approval authorises its holder to use water for a particular purpose, such as irrigation, at a particular location. It may also authorise the use within NSW of water taken from a water source outside NSW. Approvals cannot be traded to another property or location.

Generally, a water supply work approval is used in conjunction with a water access licence (WAL) and attracts associated fees and charges in addition to fees and charges applied to linked WAL’s. To simplify water management for individual properties, if both a water supply work approval and a water use approval are required, then these can be joined into a single approval, known as a combined approval.

Once you have your information ready, and are logged in to the Customer Portal, start by clicking ‘Start new application’ in the left-hand corner.

For a new water supply works approval application, select ‘Apply for a water supply works approval to take surface water’ and work your way through the questions as prompted. For further information on how-to apply for a water supply works approval, please watch our how-to video or read our guide (PDF, 1713.03 KB).

For a new water use approval, select ‘Use water from my water supply work approval’. You can then make your way through the questions as prompted. For further information on how-to apply for a water use approval, please watch our how-to video or read our guide (PDF, 1798.65 KB).

It is your responsibility to ensure your approval is correct. If you need to amend an approval, please visit our water supply works and water use approvals webpage for more information.

Apply for or amend a BLR bore

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. To access water under BLR, landholders must obtain a water supply works approval to construct a bore, well or spearpoint. It is an offence under the Water Management Act 2000 to construct or use a water supply work without an approval.

Customers can apply for a basic landholder rights (BLR) bore, or amend a BLR bore approval (i.e., subdivide, surrender or decommission) using the Customer Portal. For basic landholder rights bore applications, we recommend you contact a licensed driller as you are required to provide detailed information about the proposed work.

Once you have your information ready, start by clicking ‘Start new application’, and then select ‘Build a bore to take water to use in my house and/or drinking water for my stock under a basic landholder rights. You can then work your way through the application questions as prompted.

For further information on how-to lodge a BLR application, please watch our how-to video or use our guide (PDF, 1391.03 KB).