Water Assist
Not sure where to start with your water licence or approval enquiry?
Water Assist is an easy step-by-step tool to help you find the information and support you need for water licencing and approvals.
About waterfront land
Waterfront land includes:
- the bed of rivers, lakes, or estuaries
- land on each side within 40 metres of a riverbank
To check if a proposed work or activity is on waterfront land and needs approval, use the waterfront land e-tool.
About the waterfront land e-tool
The waterfront land e-tool will help you determine if your activities are on waterfront land and whether it needs a controlled activity approval. You can also use it for:
- undertaking a preliminary site investigation or assessment
- understanding at the pre-development application stage, if the development is considered an integrated development and therefore should be referred by a local council to the department
- providing evidence to a local council regarding the need to refer your application to the department
- supporting riparian mapping and watercourse assessment for major land releases and rezoning.
For further information and instructions read the waterfront land e-tool fact sheet PDF, 190.47 KB.
How to use the waterfront land e-tool
The e-tool has 3 sections:
- desktop assessment
- field-based assessment
- results.
Follow the prompts in the tool. After completing both assessments, the tool will email your results.
Keep a copy of the results in case you need to provide them to the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) or submit them with a development application.
For fieldwork or to complete parts of your application offline, you can also use the waterfront land e-tool PDF version PDF, 3956.66 KB.
Go to the waterfront land e-tool
Disclaimer
This e-tool only applies to controlled activities on waterfront land and does not cover water access licenses, water supply work and/or water use approvals.
The results from this e-tool cannot be used as an approval to undertake work on waterfront land or evidence of compliance with the Water Management Act 2000. You need to obtain relevant approvals under this Act and other relevant legislation.
The e-tool is recommended for people who are familiar with undertaking environmental assessments. The results produced by this e-tool, and any statements and information you referred to when using the e-tool, should be verified by professional advisers.