Funding was secured in early 2019 for a new system, at its cornerstone a customer-centric State Water Register, that is online and accessible from mobile devices.

The draft Water Register Regulations support the following new features of the enhanced Water Register:

New registration services including:

• Registration of security interests and caveats against water licences, improving the ability for licence holders to use the licences as collateral for loans.
• Registration of the nature of co-holding arrangements of a water licence as either joint tenants or tenants in common – and clear consent arrangements for parties to deal with and mortgage their water interests.
• An optional two-stage transfer process for permanent transfers of water licences and water access entitlements. This better supports property settlement processes by providing certainty that the change of ownership will only occur on registration of an approved transfer if that is the option chosen.
• Greater flexibility for customers to manage their water assets by providing a new transaction type to subdivide and/or consolidate a water licence.

New electronic lodgement services including:

• Improved accessibility to information on the Water Register to support informed decision-making.
• Ability for water licence holders to lodge applications via the electronic lodgement network, streamlining the application and lodgement process and minimising red tape.
• Ability for eligible agents or trusted parties to lodge applications through the electronic lodgement network on behalf of water licence holders, streamlining dealings on behalf of clients.
• Improved notification system in relation to water licences on the Water Register.
• Protections against fraudulent activity on the Water Register including new identity and authority verification standards to ensure water assets and related information remain secure.

These amendments are considered essential to provide a suitable scheme for the registration of security interests and to support the roll out of the Water Management Solutions (WMS) program by mid 2021. The new system is being developed by the WMS team in the Department for Environment and Water in collaboration with industry stakeholders.

For more information check the Department for Environment and Water website.