April 2016 amendment
The April 2016 amendment:
- reduces the range of water information required from Person Category E (rural water utilities)
- changes the time for provision of subcategories 5a, 5aa, 5ab, 5ac, 5b and 6a information from daily or monthly, to yearly.
Changes affect organisations in Person Category E (rural water utilities) and Person Categories A and B (lead water agencies, and other agencies of the Commonwealth or a State).
Background
This amendment puts into effect Recommendations 1 and 4 of the Interagency working group on Commonwealth water information provision report.
The recommendations were aimed primarily at reducing reporting requirements for rural water utilities in Category E. Reductions in frequency for giving certain information also ease requirements for government agencies in Categories A and B.
Summary of changes
The amendment changes water information requirements for organisations in:
- Category E, by reducing the number of subcategories required from 37 to 10
- Category E, by removing the daily frequency of reporting in Category 5 (water use information), so that all Category 5 information is reported annually
- Categories A and B, by removing the daily frequency of reporting of subcategories 5a, 5aa, 5ab, 5ac and 5b, and the monthly frequency of reporting of subcategory 6a, so that these subcategories are reported annually.
Person Category E
Organisations in Category E will now only be required to give to the Bureau Category 5 (water use information) and 6 (information about water rights, allocations and trades). They will no longer have any requirement to provide water information daily. The reduced requirements are as follows:
- annual provision of water use data in subcategories 5a, 5aa, 5ab, 5ac, 5b, 5d and 5e
- weekly provision of water trade information in subcategory 6b and 6c (no change)
- provision of data in subcategory 6d at the time of the announcement (no change)
For organisations in Category E that are also named in other person categories, the regulations will continue to require them to provide water information as specified for those other categories.
Post-amendment requirements for Person Category E:
The table below shows the subcategories that organisations in Category E must now provide and the frequency of provision.
| Item | Subcategories of water information | Time |
|---|---|---|
| The amendment changed the time for provision of the subcategories in bold | ||
| 1 | 6b, 6c | Weekly |
| 2 | 5a, 5aa, 5ab, 5ac, 5b, 5d, 5e | Yearly |
| 3 | 6d | When the announcement is made |
Person Categories A and B
The amendment has not changed the range of water information subcategories that the regulations require from organisations in Categories A and B. However, the frequency of provision for certain subcategories has changed. The table below shows the regulations requirements for Person Categories A and B.
| Item | Subcategories of water information | Time |
|---|---|---|
| The amendment changed the time for provision of the subcategories in bold | ||
| 1 | 1a, 1b, 3e, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f, 4g, 4h, 4i, 4j, 9a | Daily |
| 2 | 6b, 6c | Weekly |
| 3 | 2a, 2b | Calendar monthly |
| 4 | 2c, 3f, 5a, 5aa, 5ab, 5ac, 5b, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5ga, 5h, 5i, 6a, 6e, 6f, 6g, 9b, 9c, 9d, 9e, 9f, 9g, 9ga, 9h | Yearly |
| 5 | 6d, 8a | When the announcement is made |
Consequential amendment to subcategory 6a description
Irrigation rights are now omitted from the description of subcategory 6a as shown below:
| Subcategory number |
Description of subcategory information | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 6a | Water access rights | Yearly |
