Draft Surface Water Take – Wet Season Flows Policy

Consultation on the draft Surface Water Take – Wet Season Flows Policy (Policy) and the draft Interference with a Waterway Guideline (Guideline) occurred for 2 months from 8 November 2022 to 9 January 2023.

Now that public consultation has closed the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security project team is evaluating submissions and survey responses, and reviewing the draft policy and draft guideline to report back to the Northern Territory Government.

A report on the outcomes of public consultation will be made available on this web page. Please contact watersecurity.NTG@nt.gov.au if you require further information.

Phase 1: Closed

The Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security (the Department) has developed the
draft Surface Water Take – Wet Season Flows Policy (Policy) and the draft Interference with a Waterway Guideline (Guideline) for public feedback.

The draft Surface Water Take - Wet Season Flows Policy will apply to surface water extraction licences that take water (such as from rivers and creeks) during the Top End wet season to store and use during the dry season. The key purpose of the policy is to be clear about the NT Government’s approach to making surface water licence decisions for this type of water.

All surface water licensing decisions to take water in the Top End during the wet season will be based on research and knowledge relevant to the river basin and appropriate to the point of take. If there is insufficient research and knowledge a precautionary approach to allocating water will be taken based on contingent allocation rules.

The Contingent allocation rule is explained in the policy, which sets a formula for determining the maximum total volume of surface water that can be extracted during the wet season for a river basin (or the wet season consumptive pool). The Contingent allocation rule is only used when river basin scientific research is not available.

Infrastructure for the take and storage of large quantities of water may require a permit to interfere with a waterway. A draft Interference with a Waterway Guideline has also been developed so that these matters can be presented together. Taking a risk based approach the draft guideline outlines the considerations for determining the level of information required to support an application or condition a permit depending on the level of interference.

Before completing this survey it is recommended that you read the draft Surface Water Take – Wet Season Flows Policy and Interference with a Waterway Guideline.

The survey is open for 2 months from 8 November 2022 to 9 January 2023.

If you prefer to make a written submission please email your submission to watersecurity.NTG@nt.gov.au before the closing date.