Water Act 2000

A person must not do any of the following activities unless the person has a riverine protection permit to carry out the activity—

destroy vegetation in a watercourse, lake or spring;

excavate in a watercourse, lake or spring;

place fill in a watercourse, lake or spring.

Subsection (1) does not apply to the destruction of vegetation, excavation or placing of fill—

that is permitted or required, or happens as a necessary and unavoidable part of some other activity that is permitted or required under—

a licence, permit or other authority under another section of this Act; or

a development permit for prescribed assessable development; or

that is permitted or required under the River Improvement Trust Act 1940; or

that happens as a necessary and unavoidable part of extracting quarry material or forest products under the Forestry Act 1959; or

that happens as a necessary and unavoidable part of the construction of works that are accepted development and involve the taking or interfering with water in a watercourse, lake or spring; or

that is required or happens as a necessary and unavoidable part of some other activity that is required because of an emergency endangering either of the following, and for which notice is given to the chief executive as soon as practicable after starting to carry out the activity—

the life or health of a person;

the water quality or physical integrity of a watercourse, lake or spring; or

in a watercourse, lake or spring prescribed under a regulation; or

in a watercourse, lake or spring in an area prescribed under a regulation; or

happening within the quantity limits prescribed under a regulation; or

permitted under a regulation.

Also, subsection (1) does not apply to the destruction of vegetation—

that is required under a requisition under the Fire Services Act 1990, section 145G, for reducing the risk of fire; or

that is permitted or required to be carried out under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 or the Electricity Act 1994 to prevent the obstruction of, or interference with, an electric line or the creation of an electrical hazard; or

that is necessary for construction or maintenance of government supported transport infrastructure under the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994; or

that happens as a necessary part of works carried out under this Act, other than under a licence, permit or notice; or

that is regrowth (other than mulga or other fodder trees) following destruction of vegetation under a riverine protection permit issued less than 2 years previously; or

that has been lawfully planted for woodlot, fodder, agriculture, forestry, garden or horticultural purposes; or

that is necessary to prevent personal injury or property damage or to provide for emergency access.

A person must not contravene a condition of a riverine protection permit unless the person has a reasonable excuse.Maximum penalty—1,665 penalty units.

On the conviction of a person for an offence against subsection (1) or (2A), the court may order the person to pay to the State the cost of any remedial work or rehabilitation necessary or desirable because of the commission of the offence.

Subsection (3) does not limit the court’s power under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 or another law.

In this section—prescribed assessable development means—

operational work that is assessable development if—

the operations allow the taking or interfering with water from a watercourse, lake or spring, or from a dam constructed on a watercourse or lake; or

the operational work—

is the construction of a referable dam; or

will increase the storage capacity of a referable dam by more than 10%; or

other development that is assessable development and involves the removal of quarry material from a watercourse or lake for which an allocation notice is required under chapter 2, part 5.