Changes to water legislation
The Northern Territory (NT) Government is responsible for taking care of water resources in a sustainable way.
The primary tool to manage and protect water in the NT is the Water Act 1992 and the Water Regulations 1992.
Sometimes, the government makes changes to these rules to make them better and meet the community's expectations.
This page summarises these recent changes and current transitional arrangements.
2026 changes to the Act
Read about the changes below.
Environment and Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
The Bill presents targeted regulatory improvements across a range of legislation, informed by feedback from affected industry and stakeholders.
The Bill reduces red tape by removing duplicative and low-value processes, and strengthens practical, risk-based tools to manage pollution, water and environmental risks.
Amendments to the Water Act 1992 include:
- modernising the requirements of water allocation plans
- defining estimated sustainable yield
- clarifying public consultation requirements and processes for amending plans
- simplifying Water Advisory Committee framework
- increasing protections for Aboriginal water reserves
- introducing enforceable undertakings as an additional compliance option.
Read more about the proposed changes in the:
To read more about the Bill and other changes to environmental legislation, go to Environmental regulatory reform latest news.
2025 changes to the Act
Read about the changes below.
Lands, Planning and Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
The changes streamline approvals and decision-making. These include:
- notices published online
- removing the requirement to advertise notices of intention and decisions in newspapers, allowing them to be published online
- water trading expanded across the Territory
- allowing licence holders anywhere in the Territory to apply to trade water with other licence holders accessing the same water resource
- streamlined licence renewals and amendments
- simplifying renewals where there are no changes to the circumstances of the original licence and no significant compliance issues
- allowing administrative amendments to licences or permits where the changes don't impact water resource management.
The Water Amendment (Aboriginal Water Reserve) Bill 2025
This Bill has come into effect and includes key changes that aim to simplify the Aboriginal water reserve process for Aboriginal economic development.
These changes include:
- setting criteria for designating eligible land
- clarifying and streamlining consultation requirements
- removing consent provisions
- enabling the Controller of Water Resources to grant a water extraction licence if he or she are satisfied that the applicant:
- is an eligible Aboriginal person or
- has an agreement with the eligible Aboriginal people.
Read more about this in the changes to the Aboriginal water reserve 2025 information paper PDF (551.0 KB).
Petroleum, Planning and Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
The changes give more certainty to developers and investors in the Territory.
They remove the right of third parties to ask for merit reviews of a broad range of decisions and make reviews consistent across NT legislation.
These decisions include:
- permits to interfere with a waterway and bore work
- licences to take water like groundwater, surface water and recharge
- a waste discharge licence.
Third parties are people not directly affected by the decision, such as the permit, licence or approval holder.
They will still have the right to seek a judicial review of a decision through the NT Supreme Court.
Read more about this in the Petroleum, Planning and Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 factsheet.