WATER LICENCES —
ALLOCATIONS
449. Hon DIANE EVERS to the minister representing the
Minister for Water:
I
have had a number of constituents contact me regarding high latent volumes of
unused or underutilised entitlements in areas that are highly or fully
subscribed.
(1) Does the department regularly
review licence allocations against the amounts actually taken?
(2) If yes to (1) —
(a) how often are they reviewed;
(b) what are the
consequences if a licensee consistently takes less than their allocation by a significant
amount; and
(c) are licensees required to justify why allocations
are greater than their existing and previous usage?
(3) If no to (1), why not?
(4) In areas that
are fully allocated and requests for licences have been received, will the
minister consider reviewing existing
allocations with a view to use significant latent allocations to accommodate
new requests?
(5) If no to (4), why not?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the
question. The following information has been provided by the Minister for
Water.
(1) Yes.
(2) (a) The Department of Water and Environmental
Regulation reviews licensed allocations against the amounts actually taken when licences are assessed
for renewal and as part of proactive, risk-based compliance monitoring
programs and when licensees are required to report water usage as part of their
licence conditions. New water metering regulations will require by 31 December
2020 that all licensees taking over 10 000 kilolitres per annum must meter and
report their usage, which will assist in determining actual use.
(b) Under the
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's 2003 ''Statewide
Policy No 11: Management of Unused Licensed Water Entitlements'', the
department may recoup part or all of a licensed water entitlement that is
consistently not being used.
(c) Licensees are
required to comply with the terms, restrictions and conditions of their
licence, which may include reporting on usage. The department's licence
renewal and water recoup processes include assessments of water usage against
licensed allocation.
(3) Not applicable.
(4) The
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation considers unused water
entitlements in its water allocation planning, review and evaluation processes.
If the resource is not over-allocated, recouped unused entitlements may be
returned to the pool for reallocation to other applicants.
(5) Not applicable.