The Water Act 1989 (Vic) outlines the law relating to water in Victoria. Other objectives of the act include;

• the integrated management of all elements of the terrestrial phase of the water cycle;

• promotion of the orderly, equitable and efficient use of water resources, and ensure that water resources are conserved and properly managed for sustainable use;

• maximisation of community involvement in the making and implementation of arrangements relating to the use, conservation or management of water resources;

• elimination of inconsistencies in the treatment of surface and groundwater resources and waterways;

• provision of formal means for the protection and enhancement of the environmental qualities of waterways and their in-stream uses; and

• to provide provisions for the protection of catchments;

Ways in which the Act achieves these objectives include:

• clarifying public and private rights and liabilities with respect to using and storing water in Victoria;

• regulates water-use licenses, water use registrations and water shares and creates offences to use water for certain purposes on land without a licence;

• allowing for the declaration of an Environmental Water Reserve, to preserve the environmental values and health of water ecosystems;

• ensuring that a continuous program of assessment of water resources is undertaken, which provides for the collection, collation, analysis and publication of information relating to water use;

• Minister may cause a Sustainable Water Strategy to be prepared for a region, allocate water under an environmental entitlement, a bulk entitlement granted to an “Authority” (listed in the Act), a water share or a licence to take and use water (issued under s.51);

• Minister may determine objectives that are to apply to licences, which provide for minimising salinity, managing groundwater infiltration, managing disposal of drainage, protecting biodiversity and minimising cumulative effects of water use;

• authorities manage water within their district.

Water Amendment (Entitlements) Act 2010

• View the whole Act online via Austlii