Water Industry Competition (General) Regulation 2024

For the Act, section 5(1)(d), water industry infrastructure operated by or on behalf of a council is declared to be water industry infrastructure to which the Act, Part 2 applies if it is used or is to be used for the production or supply of recycled water for the following purposes—

washing or cleaning, including vehicles, paths, common areas or fences,

toilets, laundries or washing machines,

irrigation for the purposes of growing food,

above ground irrigation of a golf course or public open space, including a park, sportsground or median strip, if the recycled water is wholly or partly obtained from the treatment of sewage.

Water industry infrastructure specified in subsection (1) includes a reticulation network connected to the infrastructure and used to convey anything to or from the infrastructure.

For the Act, section 7D(1)(h), IPART must be satisfied that the relevant retailer licence authorises the activities proposed under the operational approval, having regard to all the water and sewerage services to be sold under the retailer licence.

For the Act, Dictionary, definition of national safety guidelines, the following documents as in force from time to time are prescribed—

the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, published by the Australian Government, the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council,

the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling, including Phases 1 and 2, published by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council and the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference.

For the Act, section 5(2)(b), the following water industry infrastructure is excluded from the application of the Act, Part 2—

water industry infrastructure specified in the Act, section 5(1)(c), if the infrastructure is not also covered by the Act, section 5(1)(a) or (b),

water industry infrastructure specified in this regulation, section 7,

water industry infrastructure specified in this regulation, Schedule 1.

Subsection (1)(a) and (b) apply to water industry infrastructure only if—

the water industry infrastructure is—

immediately before 1 March 2024, constructed but not yet operated by or on behalf of a council, or

immediately before 1 March 2024, operated by or on behalf of a council, or

on or after 1 March 2024, constructed and operated by or on behalf of a council, in accordance with an existing consent, and

the construction or operation of the water industry infrastructure is not substantially modified or expanded on or after 1 March 2024.

In this section—

existing consent means one of the following in force immediately before 1 March 2024—

a development consent or approval under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979,

for development not requiring development consent or approval under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979—a resolution of the council.

Note—

The Act, section 5(2)(a) provides that the Act, Part 2 does not apply to water industry infrastructure within the area of operations of a public water utility and operated by or on behalf of the public water utility, other than as a last resort provider.

For the Act, section 5A(a), the following policies published by the Department in which the Act is administered, as in force from time to time, are prescribed—

the NSW Water Strategy,

the Greater Sydney Water Strategy,

the Lower Hunter Water Security Plan.

This regulation is the Water Industry Competition (General) Regulation 2024.

This regulation commences on 1 March 2024.

Note—

This regulation repeals and replaces the Water Industry Competition (General) Regulation 2021.

In this regulation—

certificate of compliance, for Part 6—see section 46.

critical health needs—see subsection (2).

customer contract means the deemed customer contract, including modifications and exclusions made by IPART under section 21.

Note—

The terms and conditions of the deemed customer contract are set out in this regulation, Schedule 4.

developer, for Part 6—see section 46.

development, for Part 6—see section 46.

development authorisation, for Part 6—see section 46.

investigated monopoly supplier, for Part 4, Division 2—see section 25.

IPART Act means the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992.

issues paper, for Part 4, Division 2—see section 25.

public hearing, for Part 4, Division 2—see section 25.

public holiday means a day appointed under the Public Holidays Act 2010 or another Act as a public holiday.

requirements notice, for Part 6—see section 46.

significant methodological change, for Part 4, Division 2—see section 25.

Standard Instrument means the standard instrument prescribed by the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006.

the Act means the Water Industry Competition Act 2006.

Note—

The Act and the Interpretation Act 1987 contain definitions and other provisions that affect the interpretation and application of this regulation.

In this regulation, a person has critical health needs if the person needs a continuous drinking water service to operate a life support machine or for other critical health needs.

For the Act, Dictionary, definition of stormwater, paragraph (a), stormwater includes rainwater that has run off an urban surface, including a roof, pavement, car park, road, garden or vegetated open space.

For the Act, Dictionary, definition of stormwater, paragraph (b), stormwater does not include—

rainwater collected solely from roofs, or

leachate collected from landfill.

For the Act, section 3A(f), the following purposes are prescribed—

the supply of drinking water,

the collection and treatment of groundwater for the production, supply and use of water,

the collection and treatment of wastewater, other than sewage, stormwater or recycled water, for the production, supply and use of water.

A council may construct the following water industry infrastructure without a scheme approval if development consent has been granted under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 or if environmental assessment has been carried out in relation to the development under that Act, Division 5.1—

a water storage facility for recycled water,

a water reticulation system for recycled water.

Despite subsection (1), a scheme approval is required before the water industry infrastructure is connected to a water source.

Note—

See also the Act, section 6A, which provides that a person must not operate water industry infrastructure unless the infrastructure is substantially constructed as authorised by a scheme approval.

In this section—

water reticulation system has the same meaning as in the Standard Instrument.

water storage facility has the same meaning as in the Standard Instrument.

For the Act, section 7C(1)(g), IPART must be satisfied that the relevant operator licence authorises the activities proposed under the scheme approval, having regard to all the water industry infrastructure to be operated under the operator licence.