Resource and distribution operations licences

A licence may be needed to operate existing or proposed water infrastructure and to distribute water, such as a resource operations licence or a distribution operations licence.

These licences allow the holder to interfere with the flow of water in order to operate water infrastructure to which the licence applies.

You can obtain copies of the authorisations and standard supply contracts described below directly from the licence holder or from the relevant planning area information.

Interim resource operations licences

Interim resource operations licences were granted in relation to existing infrastructure or proposed infrastructure in an area where a resource operations plan had not been approved. Interim resource operations licences will no longer be granted under the new water planning framework.

Existing interim resource operations licences will continue to be enforced until such time as they lapse, the conditions of the interim resource operations licences have been fulfilled or they are replaced by a resource operations licence.

Resource operations licences

Resource operations licences may be granted in relation to existing infrastructure in an area where a water plan has been approved.

Resource operations licences include:

• details of the water plan to which the licence relates
• the water infrastructure, such as dams and weirs, covered by the licence
• any conditions that the holder of the licence must comply with, including operating arrangements and water supply requirements
• any transitional arrangements that the holder of the licence requires until the requirements of the plan can be met.

A resource operations licence can only be granted within a water plan area. There is no fee to apply for a resource operations licence. You will need to contact your local business centre before submitting an application related to a resource operations licence to discuss information and submission requirements.

Standard supply contracts

A standard supply contract provides details of the arrangements for the storage and delivery of water under water allocations. If a water allocation is managed under a resource operations licence, the allocation holder and the licence holder must have a supply contract for the allocation.

The chief executive may approve a standard supply contract for an area and this approval must be gazetted.

Distribution operations licences

A distribution operations licence may be granted for existing water infrastructure that is located inside of, or outside of a water plan area.

Distribution operations licences include:

• details of the water plan to which the licence relates
• any conditions that the holder of the licence must comply with, including operating arrangements and water supply requirements.

You will need to contact your local business centre to apply for a distribution operations licence not managed under a water plan.

Monitoring and reporting obligations

You may be required to collect and report water monitoring information to comply with your licence. This data is also used to support the implementation of water plans.

The revised water monitoring data collection standards and water monitoring reporting standards detail the water monitoring and reporting obligations that may be required under your licence.

Licensed water infrastructure operators may be required to use the guidance on assessing risk of impact of water infrastructure licence holder storage operations on aquatic ecosystems (PDF, 545KB) and its supporting risk assessment template (PDF, 285KB).

There is a guide to changes (PDF, 281KB) to explain this revision and the new requirements.

Also consider...

• Find out about water resource planning in Queensland.