(1) An access licence entitles its holder:(a) to specified shares in the available water within a specified water management area or from a specified water source (the share component), and(b) to take water:(i) at specified times, at specified rates or in specified circumstances, or in any combination of these, and(ii) in specified areas or from specified locations,(the extraction component).(2) Without limiting subsection (1) (a), the share component of an access licence may be expressed:(a) as a specified maximum volume over a specified period, or(b) as a specified proportion of the available water, or(c) as a specified proportion of the storage capacity of a specified dam or other storage work and a specified proportion of the inflow to that dam or work, or(d) as a specified number of units.(3) Shares in available water may be assigned generally or to specified categories of access licence.(4) In the case of a local water utility licence, its share component is to be expressed as a specified volume per year.(4A) Without limiting subsection (1) (b), the extraction component of an access licence may authorise the taking of water from a water source specified in the share component of the licence and from another water source not so specified if those water sources are vertically abutting (either wholly or partly) water sources.(4B) In the circumstances referred to in subsection (4A), the water source specified in the share component of the access licence is to be the water source that is the main source for the extraction of water by the holder of the licence.(5) For the purposes of this Act, an access licence may also be referred to as a water access licence or a WAL.(6) (Repealed)Note. An access licence:(a) does not confer a right on any person to use water for any particular purpose (that right is conferred by a water use approval), and(b) does not confer a right on any person to construct or use a water supply work (that right is conferred by a water supply work approval).
Water Management Act 2000 No 92