Apply for a water extraction licence: Aboriginal water reserve

Aboriginal water reserves must be used for Aboriginal economic development.

A new application is required if a water extraction licence has not yet been granted to either:

eligible Aboriginal landholders
third parties with an agreement.

Read more about Aboriginal water reserves.

Before you apply

You are required to describe how the water will be used for Aboriginal economic development. This may involve a secondary purpose, for example, water used for agriculture or mining activity.

If you are a third party, prepare an agreement with the eligible Aboriginal landholder as listed in the water plan.

Get the water licensing process flowchart PDF (115.7 KB).

How to apply

To apply, follow these steps:

Fill in the form

Fill in the form relevant to you.

Simple application – accessing less than 500ML per year

Apply to take water form – simple PDF (229.5 KB)
Apply to take water form – simple DOCX (98.5 KB)

Significant application – accessing more than 500ML per year

Apply to take water form – significant PDF (237.5 KB)
Apply to take water form – significant DOCX (103.2 KB)

Prepare your supporting documents

Check the form for the documents you will need to include with your application.

If your application includes commercially confidential information, you can request for it to be withheld from the public register by filling in the form below:

Commercially confidential information form PDF (571.4 KB)
Commercially confidential information form DOCX (67.6 KB)