In Western Australia, a bore into the water table needs no licence when its water is used only for the household, for lawn or garden under 0.2 hectares, or for stock that are not raised intensively, while taking artesian water needs a licence everywhere in the state. A licence to take water that comes with a property does not pass to a buyer on its own: the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) says it is not automatically transferred with the sale.
General information, not legal or hydrogeological advice. DWER is the place to confirm what a particular property needs, on 1800 508 885 or through its local offices, and DWER says a qualified hydrogeologist can advise on whether water is available and suitable.
Two kinds of groundwater
DWER manages water under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914. Proclamation is the legal step that brings a groundwater or surface water area under the department’s management, and inside a proclaimed area taking water from the water table or from surface water needs a licence unless an exemption applies. Artesian water is licensed in every part of the state. The department publishes maps of the proclaimed groundwater and surface water areas.
Three questions DWER’s pages answer
Is the land in a proclaimed area?
The proclaimed area maps answer this, and the local DWER office can help where the maps are unclear.
Which water will the bore reach?
Artesian water needs a licence wherever the bore is. A bore that only monitors water level or quality in the water table needs no construction licence.
What is the water for?
For a water table bore, the exemption covers domestic and ordinary household use, watering less than 0.2 ha of lawn or garden, and watering cattle or other stock that are not raised under intensive conditions.
Where a licence is needed, DWER often issues two. A licence to construct or alter a well (bore), known as a 26D licence, sets construction conditions that differ for artesian and non-artesian water; a 5C licence to take water sets an annual entitlement in kilolitres, with terms and conditions. DWER is clear that an entitlement does not promise that the water will be there, or that it will be of suitable quality.
A worked example
Example only: an imagined lot
A 4 ha lot has a house, a bore into the water table, two horses on dry pasture, and a lawn and garden of 0.15 ha watered from the bore. Read against DWER’s exemption list:
- household use: within the exemption;
- 0.15 ha of lawn and garden is less than 0.2 ha: within it;
- two horses on pasture, not raised intensively: within it.
If the owners later planned to water 0.3 ha of lawn and garden, that is 0.1 ha more than the 0.2 ha the exemption names, and the question would go back to DWER’s licensing flowcharts or its local office.
When the land changes hands
DWER’s online Water Register lets anyone search, view and print the licensing and water availability details for a property, along with the water resources and other licences nearby. For a property that holds a licence to take water, DWER sets out the paths open to a buyer who wants to use water:
- agree with the current owner on transferring their licence, or trading part of the entitlement, and apply to DWER before settlement or within 30 days after it;
- if the seller keeps the licence, apply for a new one;
- where the area’s allocation limit has been reached, a new licence may be refused, and trading or leasing water from another licence holder in the same area may be the route.
Dams, drains and springs
A landholder can drain their land or build a dam without a licence, in proclaimed and unproclaimed areas, where the water is not held on a watercourse or wetland and does not noticeably cut the flow or volume of one. Water from a spring that rises and stays within the property can also fall outside licensing, but the Act’s meaning of “spring” differs from the everyday word, so DWER strongly recommends working through its spring exemptions guideline before taking any water.
Garden bores and the watering roster
Water Corporation says garden bore users in Perth and Mandurah keep the same watering days and times as scheme water users, that rosters elsewhere may differ, and that its watering days page looks up the days for an address. When its inspectors see a bore user watering off the roster, it passes the matter to DWER, which may issue an infringement.
Defence’s PFAS program around Pearce
Defence runs a PFAS investigation and management program on and around RAAF Base Pearce, and its page is the place to read what it has found. It completed its detailed investigations in November 2018. By Defence’s account, drinking bore water carried a higher exposure risk at some properties where PFAS was found above drinking water guidelines; those properties were given bottled water and have since been connected to scheme water, and eligible properties in West and South Bullsbrook now have a metered drinking water service from a new Water Corporation main. Defence’s assessment found a low risk of exposure when bore water is used for activities such as showering, gardening and eating locally grown food watered with bore water.
Monitoring of groundwater, surface water and sediment continues, and Defence publishes the results in ongoing monitoring reports on the same page, together with its management area plan. Questions about those reports go to Defence at pfas.enquiry@defence.gov.au.