What do we regulate?

The core areas we regulate every day include:

Water authorisations

• A holder of a relevant authorisation is a person or group that has permission to use water.
• A water authorisation can be in the form of a water licence, water allocation, or water permit.

Measurement devices to record water take

• A measurement device is any device used to measure the volume of water taken or the rate at which water is taken.
• This includes devices like non-urban water meters, telemetry devices, flow meters, and level sensors. These devices monitor water use and help us check that water authorisation holders are only taking the amount of water they have permission to take.

Non-urban water supply

• Non-urban water supply refers to the delivery of water to areas outside of cities and towns.
• This includes rural and regional areas, where water is primarily used for agriculture, livestock and domestic purposes.
• Non-urban water is water that is taken directly from surface water or groundwater and is not supplied by local governments or other water service providers as part of a town water supply or other distribution schemes.

Water bore drilling and decommissioning

• Water bore drilling is the process of drilling a hole into the ground to access groundwater from an aquifer.
• Water bore decommissioning is the process of permanently sealing a water bore that is no longer needed to protect an aquifer.
• We regulate the licensed drillers who undertake these activities.

Overland flow

• Overland flow is water that runs across the land after rainfall, either before it enters a watercourse, after it leaves a watercourse as floodwater, or after it rises to the surface naturally from underground.

Riverine quarry material

• Riverine quarry material refers to natural materials like sand, gravel, rock, and clay that are extracted from within watercourses (rivers, creeks, lakes).
• Extraction of quarry material is permitted under a Quarry Material Authority Notice (QMAN).

Riverine protection works

• Riverine protection works in Queensland refer to activities undertaken to protect and conserve watercourses, lakes and springs.

Drinking water service providers

• Drinking water service providers are organisations that are responsible for supplying safe and reliable drinking water to households and businesses.
• A service provider must publish regulatory documents about the water services provided to customers.

Sewerage and recycled water service providers

• Sewerage and recycled water service providers are organisations responsible for collecting and treating sewage and providing fit for purpose recycled water.
• A service provider must publish regulatory documents about the sewerage and/or recycled water services provided to customers.

Referable dams

• A referable dam is a dam that has been assessed and deemed to pose a risk to two or more people in the event of a failure.
• Referable dams are required to meet certain requirements, such as having an approved emergency action plan for the dam.

Resource and distribution operations licences

• Resource and distribution operators are organisations that operate water infrastructure (such as dams or weirs) and supply water from these bulk water sources through distribution/supply schemes.