Water Management Act 2000

A private water trust must for each year commencing on 1 July fix the rates and charges payable in respect of each landholding owned or occupied by its members that is a landholding for which the trust may exercise functions, or for which it provides water or drainage services in that year.

In determining the amount of rates and charges payable, the trust must fix an amount that it considers is sufficient to meet the estimated costs of the following—

the trust’s likely costs in providing irrigation, water supply, drainage and flood control services for that year,

the liabilities of the trust,

the likely costs relating to trust works, including (but not limited to) maintenance, improvement and replacement of works and new works,

provision for a sinking fund (if necessary),

any other matters prescribed by the regulations.

The rates and charges payable may (but are not required to) be fixed on the basis of any one or more of the following—

the volume or quality of water supplied or proposed to be supplied to a landholding,

the area of a landholding,

whether or not water or drainage services are or are proposed to be provided to a landholding,

the purpose for which water services are supplied or proposed to be supplied to a landholding.

If rates and charges are payable on the basis of the area of a landholding, a landholding that has an area equal to a number of hectares and a remaining fraction of a hectare is to be rounded up to the nearest hectare.

The trust may also fix the following charges—

termination charges payable by a member or former member in connection with the trust ceasing to supply water to the member or former member (whether because of the transformation of the member’s water entitlement to an access licence or otherwise),

charges payable for the delivery of water to a member after transformation of the whole or part of the member’s water entitlement.

A trust must give notice of its fees and charges for a year in the manner prescribed by the regulations and must specify in the notice the basis on which the rates and charges are calculated.

The rules of a trust must provide for the procedures for setting rates and charges and the period within which rates and charges must be paid.

Note.

The regulations may prescribe requirements for rules made under this section (see section 225 (3) (b)).