Cultural water access for Aboriginal peoples

• Use the map on the water sharing plan to find the area that applies to your application
• Check the relevant plan’s map for location and provisions for grant of specific purpose access licences (usually found in Part 5 of the plan) to see if the Aboriginal cultural water SPAL can be applied for in your location.
• If you need support to understand the plan requirements email water.enquiries@dcceew.nsw.gov.au
• Review the application form and gather all required supporting documents before you start. Incomplete applications cannot be accepted.
   

Find more information at: Assessment timeframes

Aboriginal cultural SPALs can be granted in all water sources in NSW. This includes rivers, creeks, streams, lakes, wetlands, billabongs and groundwater (the water below the land surface).

The department's Water Group reviews, assesses and issues Aboriginal cultural SPALs and associated approvals.

Each licence can provide up to 10ML.

If you need more than this, you can apply for more than one licence, and more than one person or organisation can apply in the same area to meet community cultural water needs.
 

Yes. Multiple Aboriginal people or Aboriginal community organisations can apply for licences at the same location or cultural site.

No. An Aboriginal person or organisation can apply for several Aboriginal cultural water access licences.  

Each licence can be for up to 10 ML/year.
 

You may be able to take water under a licence from one or more of these types of water sources from the same property:

• groundwater between grains of sand, gravels and other sediments.
• groundwater in fractured or porous rock groundwater systems
• rivers controlled by dams or weirs
• an unregulated river (in stream)
• rivers or streams where flow cannot be controlled by storages.

If you need water from a different water source (for example, surface water and groundwater), you can apply for separate licences for each one.

As an example, you may access a river to pump water to a cultural wetland and also use groundwater elsewhere via a pump to water bush foods. You would need two licences, one for each source.

You can submit as many applications as you need.

However, the number licences that can be granted in a water source depends on availability and the rules in the relevant water sharing plan. 

Measures are always in place to make sure enough water remains for critical human, animal and the environmental needs.

How water is allocated explains the order of priorities.

If you plan to pump water for cultural use, think about 3 things:

1. Land ownership or occupancy 
   You must have legal right to access the site where you will take the water. You may:
   • own or lease the land
   • have the landowner's permission.
      
2. Water supply work approval: 
   If you need a pump, bore or dam, you will need a water supply work approval. These approvals are free for Aboriginal people and organisations when linked to an Aboriginal cultural SPAL.
   
   You can apply for this approval after your SPAL is granted.
    
3. Where and how the water will be used 
   Be clear about your cultural purpose and where the water you plan to take will go, for example:
   • if the water will fill a natural billabong, water hole, wetland or swamp that you use for cultural purposes
   • if the water will fill a dam, tank or artificial wetland that has been built on the land from where you will then use it for cultural purposes
   • if you need solar, electric or petrol pumps to get the water from one place to another.

Aboriginal cultural SPALs are provided free of charge to eligible applicants. 

There are also no ongoing water management charges until at least mid-2029.

If you need pump, bore or dam, to extract or store the cultural water you will need a water supply work approval, which is also free of charge if the water is taken under an Aboriginal cultural SPAL. 

However, you will need to buy the equipment required to extract the water e.g. pump or bore, or infrastructure to store the water. 

This depends on the type of water source.

Regulated rivers

If you leave cultural water instream, you will still need to order the water to a specific point to prevent it being used by other licence holders upstream. However, it could be used further downstream by other water users in another water source. 

Unregulated rivers 

There is generally no way to ensure licensed water will not be taken by other licence holders downstream. Some protection may be available in the Barwon-Darling River. Speak with departmental staff if you want to keep cultural water instream in this type of system.

The department follows its Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Protocol which protects the rights of Aboriginal people, including knowledge, stories, language, cultural practices and information about Country.

We acknowledge that information shared in an application may include ICIP. Applicants are encouraged to identify or clearly mark any information they consider to be ICIP or culturally sensitive, so it can be handled respectfully and in line with the department’s Protocol.

Any ICIP you provide will be used only for assessing and processing your application, or for the operation of any approval granted.

Except where required or authorised by law, this information will not be shared or used for any other purpose without the free, prior and informed consent of the relevant knowledge holders.

Providing this information is voluntary.

However, if you choose not to provide the information needed to understand the cultural purpose for the water, the department may not be able to process your application.

You do not need to include detailed cultural site locations if the water will stay instream (for example, in a river, stream, lake, wetland, aquifer or billabong). If your application involves a culturally sensitive site or purpose, you are encouraged to speak with departmental staff to find a safe and appropriate way to record your cultural purpose while protecting ICIP.