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Changes to water rules

The Northern Territory (NT) Government is responsible for taking care of water resources in a sustainable way.

The primary tool to manage and protect water in the NT is the Water Act 1992 and the Water Regulations 1992.

Sometimes, the government makes changes to these rules to make them better and meet the community's expectations.

This page summarises these recent changes and current transitional arrangements.

In the future, the NT Government plans to update the Water Act and create new laws for safe drinking water.

This is a step towards improving how water is managed sustainably in the NT, as described in the Territory Water Plan. Find out more on the Office of Water Security website.

Transition of existing mining activities

A 2-year timeframe has been set to transition existing mining activities into the Water Act.

The new arrangements replace the ones that were in place from 2019 to 2023.

Status

Active - these changes will be in place until 31 July 2025.

Who is affected

These changes affect existing mining operators who have been extracting water since 1 July 2019 or earlier. This includes extractives and explorers.

Reason for the changes

These changes are intended to better manage water resources in the Territory.

They aim to achieve this by collecting more information and being more open about how much water is being used by mining activities.

Read more about this in the Water Regulatory Reform Paper 2023 PDF (581.2 KB).

Legislation

These changes are covered in sections 71N to 71R of the Water Act and Regulation 14D.

Transition of commercial groundwater users in Darwin rural

Changes have been made to set a 2-year timeframe to finish the transition of previously exempt water users in the Darwin rural water control district into the licensing system.

It ensures that:

  • water usage information is available for resource management
  • users measure their water use
  • users follow the rules and conditions specified in their licences.

Users can apply from 1 August 2023 until 31 July 2025.

Status

Active and fully enforced.

Who is affected

This transition affect previously exempt water users in the Darwin rural water control district that have been extracting water since 2015.

Reason for the changes

These changes are intended to better manage water resources in Darwin rural areas.

They aim to achieve this by collecting more information and being more open about how much water is being used by commercial operators.

Read more about this in the Water Regulatory Reform Paper 2023 PDF (581.2 KB).

Legislation

These changes are covered in section 71M of the Water Act and Regulation 14A.

Read about the Darwin rural water regulation strategy on the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security website.

Find out how to apply for a water extraction licence in Darwin rural.

Change to rights to access groundwater in restricted areas

Changes to the Water Act give the minister the power to declare restricted water extraction areas where water resources are at risk.

In these declared areas, if a landholder chooses to subdivide their land, only one of the newly created land titles will have the legal right to access groundwater.

Status

Active and fully enforced.

Who is affected

This change affects landowners of subdivided or consolidated land in restricted water extraction areas.

Reason for the changes

These changes are intended to better manage water resources in Darwin rural areas.

They aim to achieve this by collecting more information and being more open about how much water is being used by commercial operators.

Read more about this in the Water Regulatory Reform Paper 2023 PDF (581.2 KB).

Legislation

The changes are covered in section 14A(1) of the Water Act.

Contact

If you have any questions, contact the Water Resources office.