Water products

Tradeable water rights (water products)

Tradeable water rights can also be referred to as water products. In a water market, water products can be traded with or without land. There are three types of tradable water rights:

1. Water access right – The right to hold water from a water resource or take water from a water resource.
2. Water delivery right – The right to have water delivered by an IIO.
3. Irrigation right – The rights to receive water from an IIO, which are not water access rights or water delivery rights.

Note: Trades in water delivery rights are not represented in the water market reporting on this website. Trades in irrigation rights are reported in the water market reporting on this website where data has been supplied.

Although the above list comprises general categories of tradeable water rights, some components within water access rights may not be tradeable.

Attributes of water products

This section will focus on attributes of water access entitlements and water allocations, which form the bulk of water products traded in Australia, and are the focus of the reports published on this website. Individual water products differ in each state and territory, however they are divided up in a similar manner across jurisdictions. Water products are categorised by the following attributes:

1. whether they are bundled The aggregation of individual rights into a single right. These might include, but are not limited to, land property title, water access entitlement, water allocations, water use rights, delivery rights, irrigation rights and works approvals.   with land
2. whether they come from surface water or groundwater
3. whether they come from regulated or unregulated water resources
4. whether they are high or low reliability.

The diagram below outlines the attributes which can apply to individual water products:

Water products table

The major water products in each state and territory are listed below. More information is available on individual water products in the water resource plans for each jurisdiction. See the State/territory rules page page for links to water resource plans.

Nationally equivalent terms for water products

National Term	Water access entitlement type (unbundled)	Water access entitlement type (bundled)	Water allocation	Water resource type (surface)	Water resource type (ground)	Water access entitlement reliability (for unbundled only)
State
NSW	Water access licence (Water Management Act 2000)	Water licence (Water Act 1912)	Water allocation	Regulated river (Regulated surface water for water licence 1912) Unregulated river (Unregulated surface water for water licence 1912)	Groundwater	Category (e.g. high, general, supplementary for regulated; unregulated river, aquifer for groundwater)
Vic	Water share	Approval for underground disposal Bulk entitlement Private right Registration licence Supply by agreement Take and Use licence Water allowance	Water allocation	Drainage diversion Regulated surface water Unregulated surface water (waterway, spring or run-off)	Groundwater Managed aquifer recharge (MAR)	Reliability class for unbundled (high, low, spill) plus other bundled classes
Qld	Water allocation	Interim water allocation Water licence	Seasonal water assignment	Supplemented surface water Unsupplemented surface water	Supplemented groundwater Unsupplemented groundwater	Priority group for supplemented (e.g. high, high A1, high A2, high A, high B, medium, medium A) plus other unsupplemented classes
SA	Water access entitlement	Water allocation (taking and holding)	Water allocation	Prescribed/non-prescribed surface water Prescribed/non-prescribed watercourse water	Prescribed/non-prescribed underground water	Classes 1-9 for River Murray
WA	N/A	Water licence	Water allocation	Surface water	Groundwater	N/A
Tas	Water licence	N/A	Water allocation	Surface water	Groundwater	Surety level 1-8 (1 is highest priority)
NT	N/A	Water extraction licence	Water allocation	Unregulated surface water	Unregulated groundwater	Security class (e.g. high, medium, low)
ACT	Water access entitlement (Water Resources Act 2007)	Water access entitlement (Water Resources Act 1998) )	Water allocation	Unregulated surface water	Unregulated groundwater	N/A

Trading terminology table

The terminology used to describe the trading of water access entitlements and water allocations also differs across the jurisdictions. The table below provides a state and territory mapping for trading terms.

Nationally equivalent terms for trading terminology.

Trade type	State/territory	State/territory term
Water access entitlement trade A transaction to transfer a water access entitlement from one legal entity to another, with or without a change in location, perpetually or for a specified term (i.e. lease).   Source: Adapted from NWC water markets report 2008-2009 (lease)	ACT	Trade for limited period
	NSW	Term transfer (similar to lease)
	NT	Temporary trade
	Qld	Lease
	SA	Temporary transfer
	Tas	Limited period transfer or temporary transfer
	Vic	Limited term transfer (unbundled) or temporary transfer (bundled)
	WA	Water licence agreement
Water access entitlement trade A perpetual or ongoing entitlement to exclusive access to a share of water from a specified consumptive pool as defined in the relevant water plan.   Source: Schedule B(ii) NWI (permanent/ongoing)	ACT, NT	Water access entitlement trade
	NSW	Transfer or assign share component
	Qld	Transfer of water licence or water allocation Permanent transfer of interim water allocation
	SA	Permanent transfer
	Tas	Absolute transfer
	Vic, WA	Transfer
Water allocation trade A transaction to transfer a water allocation from one legal entity to another, with or without a change in location, for the remaining water year (by default) or for a specified term that may be less than the end of the water year or carried over to subsequent years (i.e. lease).   Source: Adapted from NWC water markets report 2008-2009	ACT, NT, Vic	Water allocation trade
	NSW	Assign water allocation
	Qld	Seasonal water assignment
	SA	Water allocation trade (for unbundled) or transfer water allocation - taking and holding (for bundled)
	Tas	Absolute transfer or limited period transfer
	Vic, WA	Temporary transfer or seasonal water assignment (for Harvey Water)