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DWE Home > Home > Water Management > Water legislation and policies >

Water legislation and policies

Managing NSW’s water resources is a huge task, involving a large number of individual acts, schemes and initiatives and cooperative arrangements with the Commonwealth and other state government departments.

The key parts of the water management framework in NSW are:

• Water Management Act 2000: this is the main piece of water legislation for NSW ensuring that water is provided for the environment and more secure access to water users. The provisions of the Act are being progressively implemented in NSW. In the water sharing plan areas licences and approvals are administered under the Water Management Act. Across the entire State, works witihin 40 metres of a river, lake or estuary require a controlled activity approval under this Act.
  For more information and a copy of the Act, go to the section on Water Management Act 2000.
• Water Act 1912: this Act came into force at the turn of the century and represented a different era in water management in NSW. This Act is being progressively phased out and replaced by the Water Management Act 2000 but some provisions are still in force. The latest copy of the Water Act 1912 is available from the NSW's Government legislation website.
• National Water Initiative: The NSW Government is a partner in the National Water Initiative (NWI) endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments in June 2004. The NSW Government prepared its NSW NWI Implementation Plan (PDF 657 KB) in 2005 containing specific actions for implementing the eight key elements of the NWI.  The Plan was accredited by the National Water Commission on 18 August 2006. 
• Living Murray and Snowy Initiatives: Under these initiatives, the NSW government in cooperation with the Commonwealth and the State Governments have committed substantial funding and resources to improve the health of these river systems by returning additional water to the rivers. To view more information go to the section on water recovery projects.

Key Water Policies and Publications

The following policy documents set out the key strategic directions and objectives of water management in NSW:

• NSW Water reforms: A secure and sustainable future (PDF 1.4 MB)
• State Water Management Outcomes Plan – part 1 (PDF 98 KB) and part 2 (PDF 335 KB)
• NSW Rivers and Estuaries Policy (PDF 5.5 Mb) published August 1993 - A number of institutional arrangements as well as the legislation has changed since the publication of this policy, however the overarching objectives and principles of the policy remain the same today.
• NSW Wetlands Management Policy (PDF 346 KB)
• NSW Sand and Gravel Extraction Policy for Non-Tidal Rivers (PDF 3 MB) - published 1992 - A number of institutional and legislation changes have occurred since the publication of this policy, however the overarching objectives and principles of the policy remain the same today.
• NSW State Groundwater Policy Framework Document (PDF 1.8 MB)
• NSW State Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem Policy (PDF 1 MB)
• NSW Groundwater Quality Policy (PDF 1.2 MB)
• Aquifer Risk Assessment Report (PDF 401 KB)
• Stressed Rivers Assessment Report (PDF 483 KB)
• NSW Weirs Policy (PDF 283 KB)
• NSW Salinity Strategy
• NSW Water Conservation Strategy (PDF 363 KB)