Water Licensing
Sydney Catchment Authority
The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) manages and protects Sydney's catchments and supplies bulk water to its customers, which include Sydney Water and a number of local councils.
The SCA was created under the Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998 and became operational on 2 July 1999. Under this Act, an Operating Licence was granted to the SCA to ensure that they meet certain objectives with regard to catchment management, bulk water supply and compliance with quality and performance standards.
The Water Management Licence issued to the SCA under the Water Act 1912 defines the SCA's water access rights and obligations, as well as regulating and managing the water management works. The licensed works include all dams and weirs for Sydney's drinking water supply system, including Warragamba Dam, Tallowa Dam (on the Shoalhaven River), Woronora Dam and the Upper Nepean Dams.
The Hawkesbury Nepean River Management Forum and Expert Panel (Forum) released their final report (PDF 3 MB) in 2004 which included recommendations for a comprehensive environmental flow program to be implemented downstream of the Sydney SCA's storages in the Hawkesbury Nepean. Recommendations from the Forum have been considered in the development of further environmental flow rules in the licence.
Sydney Catchment Authority licence
For further information on the SCA Water Management Licence or to report an incident, please contact us.
To find out more about SCA's activities, including transfers of water from the Shoalhaven River and environmental flow rules, view the Sydney Catchment Authority website.