Victorian Numbered Acts

WATER AND CATCHMENT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 2019 (NO. 23 OF 2019) - SECT 30

For section 63 of the Principal Act substitute —

        "     63     Offences for taking or using water from a non-declared water system

    (1)     A person must not knowingly take or use water from a relevant water source in a non-declared water system without being authorised to do so by or under this or any other Act, being a taking or using that results in—

        (a)     land, works or water being seriously damaged; or

        (b)     another person suffering substantial economic loss.

Penalty:     For an individual, 10 years imprisonment or 1200 penalty units or both;

For a body corporate, 6000 penalty units.

    (2)     A person must not recklessly take or use water from a relevant water source in a non-declared water system without being authorised to do so by or under this or any other Act, being a taking or using that results in—

        (a)     land, works or water being seriously damaged; or

        (b)     another person suffering substantial economic loss.

Penalty:     For an individual, 5 years imprisonment or 600 penalty units or both;

For a body corporate, 3000 penalty units.

    (3)     A person must not take or use water from a relevant water source in a non-declared water system without being authorised to do so by or under this or any other Act.

Penalty:     For an individual, 240 penalty units;

For a body corporate, 1200 penalty units.

    (4)     A person does not commit an offence under subsection (1), (2) or (3) if the person takes or uses water—

        (a)     from a spring or soak for domestic and stock use; or

        (b)     from a dam, that is water taken or used other than for domestic and stock use, being water in the dam—

              (i)     that has been taken from another relevant water source under an authorisation to do so under this or any other Act; or

              (ii)     that has been collected from a roof; or

        (c)     from a dam, that is water taken or used for domestic and stock use, other than water in the dam that has been taken from an aquifer or a waterway (within the meaning of the definition of relevant water source ) without an authorisation to do so under this or any other Act.

    (5)     In this section—

"relevant water source" means any of the following—

        (a)     a waterway including—

              (i)     the River Murray; and

              (ii)     any collection of water which is from time to time replenished in whole or in part by water coming by a natural sub-surface path from a waterway;

        (b)     an aquifer;

        (c)     a spring or soak;

        (d)     a dam.

        63A     Evidentiary provisions for offences under section 63

    (1)     In any proceeding for an offence under section 63(1), (2) or (3) against a person, evidence that water has been taken to land, diverted to land or used on land that is specified in a relevant authorisation held by that person as land on which that water may be used, is evidence that the person took or used the water and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of that fact.

    (2)     In any proceeding for an offence under section 63(1), (2) or (3) against a person, in a case where subsection (1) does not apply, evidence that water has been taken to land, diverted to land or used on land occupied by the person is evidence that the person took or used that water and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of that fact.

    (3)     To avoid doubt, subsection (2) applies to a person who is the occupier of land who is also the owner of the land.

    (4)     In a proceeding for an offence under section 63(1), (2) or (3), if a person has been found guilty of an offence under section 288(1), (2) or (3) in relation to a meter of an Authority that measures the amount of water that is taken to, diverted to or used on land, the finding of guilt is evidence that—

        (a)     the person took water and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of that fact; and

        (b)     the person was not authorised to take the water and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of that fact.

    (5)     In this section—

"relevant authorisation" means any of the following—

        (a)     a bulk entitlement;

        (b)     a licence issued under section 51;

        (c)     a licence issued under section 67.

        63B     Power to issue infringement notice in relation to offence under section 63(3)

    (1)     An authorised water officer may serve an infringement notice on a person whom the officer has reason to believe has contravened section 63(3) if the person—

        (a)     was not authorised to take or use water under an authorisation under this or any other Act; and

        (b)     took or used an amount of water equal to, or less than, 10 megalitres.

    (2)     An authorised water officer may serve an infringement notice on a person whom the officer has reason to believe has contravened section 63(3) if the person—

        (a)     was authorised to take or use a specified amount of water under an authorisation under this or any other Act (the authorised amount ); and

        (b)     took or used an amount of water in addition to the authorised amount and the amount of that additional water—

              (i)     was an amount equal to, or less than, 20% of the authorised amount; and

              (ii)     was an amount equal to, or less than, 10 megalitres.".