Watercourse works during an emergency
Severe weather, floods and other disasters create dangerous conditions that can escalate quickly.
Always follow directives from emergency services staff and prioritise your safety.
Critical and emergency works
In emergencies, if safe to do so, you can excavate or place fill in a watercourse without seeking authority.
These activities are permitted in emergency situations that:
- pose serious health or life-threatening risk to a person
- compromise water quality
- threaten the physical integrity of the watercourse.
Example of critical activities
During a flood, strong, swirling water and erosion threatens to wash away a riverbank. This can lead to loss of land and damage to nearby roads and properties.
In this case, you can use fill, such as rocks and boulders to prevent erosion, without authorisation.
Even in an emergency, you are still responsible for making sure that work does not:
- obstruct the flow of water and cause local flooding
- redirect the flow of water into a bank
- lower or destabilise natural waterholes in the bed of the watercourse.
Remember, only do what is necessary and unavoidable.
After the emergency
You must notify your local business centre of the activities as soon as is feasible.
Any work that is not critical is unauthorised.
Remember, unauthorised work cannot be repaired or replaced under any existing approvals or permits.
Also consider...
- Find out how to prepare your land and infrastructure for an emergency.
- Get advice to rehabilitate your watercourse after an emergency.