Water Act 1989

An Authority may make by-laws for or with respect to—

the management, protection and use of all lands, waterways and works under the Authority's management and control; and

sanitary drainage plans held by water authorities, including—

the lodging of plans of sanitary drains as they appear after they have been installed or altered; and

specifying the details that the plans must contain; and

the providing of the copies of the plans; and

fixing fees for the lodging, copying and viewing of the plans;

(in the case of an Authority authorised by the Minister to do so) prescribing standards for any saline matter (whether in liquid form or not) that may be discharged—

into works under its control; or

into any waterway; or

onto any place from which it may enter into—

any works under the control of the Authority; or

any waterway; or

any aquifer; or

any bore; and

(in the case of an Authority authorised by the Minister to do so) regulating or prohibiting the clearing of land within 20 metres of a channel which is under the control of the Authority; and

generally prescribing anything that is authorised or required to be prescribed by by-laws or that is necessary or convenient for performing the functions of the Authority under this Act.

A power conferred by this Act to make by-laws may be exercised—

either in relation to all cases to which the power extends, or in relation to all those cases subject to specified exceptions, or in relation to any specified case or class of case; and

so as to make, as respects the cases in relation to which the power is exercised—

the same provision for all cases in relation to which the power is exercised, or different provisions for different cases or classes of case, or different provisions for the same case or class of case for different purposes; or

any such provision either unconditionally or subject to any specified condition.

By-laws made under this Act may be made—

so as to apply—

at all times or at a specified time; or

throughout the whole of the State or in a specified part of the State; or

as specified in both subparagraphs (i) and (ii); and

so as to require a matter affected by the by‑laws to be—

in accordance with a specified standard or specified requirement; or

approved by or to the satisfaction of a specified person or a specified class of persons; or

as specified in both subparagraphs (i) and (ii); and

so as to adopt any model by-law issued by the Minister; or

so as to apply, adopt or incorporate any matter contained in any document, code, standard, rule, specification or method formulated, issued, prescribed or published by any person whether—

wholly or partially or as amended by the by-laws; or

as formulated, issued, prescribed or published at the time the by-laws are made or at any time before then; or

as formulated, issued, prescribed or published from time to time; and

so as to confer a discretionary authority or impose a duty on a specified person or a specified class of persons; and

so as to provide in a specified case or class of case for the exemption of people or things or a class of people or things from any of the provisions of the by-laws, whether unconditionally or on specified conditions and either wholly or to such an extent as is specified; and

so as to impose a penalty for a contravention of the by-laws, not exceeding 20 penalty units and, in the case of a continuing offence, an additional penalty not exceeding 5 penalty units for each day on which the offence continues—

after service of a notice of contravention on the person under section 151; or

if no notice of contravention is served, after conviction of the person for the offence.

By-laws made under this Act may prescribe a fee by reference to a number (whether whole or fractional) of charge units and that fee may be determined by multiplying the number of charge units by a number of dollars fixed by resolution of the Authority.

For the purposes of subsection (1) land acquired for the purposes of the Murray-Darling Basin Act 1982 or for the purposes of works carried out or to be carried out under that Act or under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement must be taken to be under the management and control of the relevant water authority within the meaning of the Murray-Darling Basin Act 1993.

References in subsection (5) to the Murray-Darling Basin Act 1982 include references to any corresponding previous enactment and any references to the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement include references to any corresponding previous agreement.