Trading in your state/territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Water Resources Act 2007(ACT) controls all use of water resources in the Australian Capital Territory, including the allocation of water and licensing of use. This Act establishes the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as responsible for approving or rejecting all water entitlement and licence transactions. The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate assesses applications for water trades on behalf of the EPA.

The Australian Capital Territory operates in an unbundled environment with a water access entitlement regime allowing a person to maintain a water access entitlement without having legal access to a property within the specified water resource. However, to date, trading in the Australian Capital Territory has only occurred related to the transfer of land i.e. water trades have been processed in parallel with the land transfer.

To trade water access entitlements, an application form must be submitted in person or post to the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate. The department will only accept signed original application forms.

Further information about the water trading process in the Australian Capital Territory is available on the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate web site  or by clicking the links below.