(1) The Corporation has the functions conferred or imposed on it by or under this or any other Act.
(1) The Premier may not nominate:
(a) the portfolio Minister of the Corporation, or (b) a Minister administering the , the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 , the Water Management Act 2000 or the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 , Public Health Act 2010 as a voting shareholder of the Corporation.
(1) The Minister may, by order in writing, direct that the business undertaking of Sydney Water Corporation Limited be transferred to the Corporation, in exchange for the issue of shares or on any other basis. (2) The transfer of assets, rights and liabilities under this section is to take place at a value or values specified in the order.
(1) The Minister may direct, by order in writing, that such assets, rights or liabilities of Sydney Water Corporation Limited as are specified or referred to in the order be excluded from Sydney Water Corporation Limited’s business undertaking. (2) On the date specified in the order, the excluded undertaking concerned is transferred to the Ministerial Holding Corporation or such other person on behalf of the Crown as is so specified.
(1) The Corporation has, subject to this section, the same area of operations that Sydney Water Corporation Limited had immediately before it ceased to be a company State owned corporation. Each operating licence is to contain a schedule that details the area of operations or the part of the area of operations to which the operating licence applies. (2) The Governor may, by order published on the NSW legislation website, vary the area of operations and may, by that order, specify which systems and services the Corporation may provide in the whole or a part or parts of the area of operations as so varied.
(1) The Governor may grant one or more operating licences to enable the Corporation in accordance with this Act, in the area of operations, to provide, construct, operate, manage or maintain systems or services for:
(a) storing or supplying water, or (b) providing sewerage services, or (c) providing stormwater drainage systems, or (d) disposing of waste water.
(1) An operating licence may only be amended in the manner specified in the operating licence.
(1) The Tribunal may impose a monetary penalty on the Corporation. (2) The Tribunal may, instead of imposing a monetary penalty, require the Corporation to take such action as the Tribunal considers appropriate in the circumstances, including (for example) requiring the sending of information to customers or the publication of notices in newspapers. (3) The Tribunal may not require action to be taken under subsection (2) by the Corporation if the cost of that action would exceed the monetary penalty that the Tribunal could impose under this section on the Corporation. (4) If the Tribunal requires information to be sent to a customer under subsection (2), the Corporation may satisfy that requirement by sending the information to the customer with the next account or bill to be sent to the customer by the Corporation or, if the Corporation is sending other information to that customer before the next account or bill, with that other information. (5) Action may be taken under this section only if the Corporation has knowingly contravened an operating licence.
(1) An operating licence may be cancelled by the Governor, but only if:
(a) the Corporation ceases, otherwise than as authorised by the operating licence or as permitted in accordance with an order made under section 10 (2), to do the things referred to in section 14 (1) or any of them in the area of operations for any reason, or (b) the Corporation:
(i) is, in the opinion of the Minister, in material default in compliance with the operating licence, viewed in terms of the operation of the operating licence as a whole, and (ii) has not, within the time specified by the Minister in a notice to the Corporation, either rectified the default or shown cause, to the satisfaction of the Minister, why the operating licence should not be cancelled, or (c) the Corporation is an externally administered corporation within the meaning of the of the Commonwealth, or Corporations Act 2001 (d) the Corporation has been convicted on more than 3 occasions within a period of 12 months of criminal offences that are punishable by a fine of at least $10,000 or, if the Corporation were a natural person, imprisonment for 12 months or more.
(1) The function of the Tribunal under this Division is to ensure that the operational audit is prepared in accordance with the operating licence.
(1) The Corporation is the owner of all works installed in or on land, at sea, in or on the seabed, in rivers and other waterways and in or on the beds of rivers and waterways by the Corporation and of all works in or on land or in water vested in or transferred to the Corporation (whether or not the land is owned by the Corporation).
(1) Land in or on which a work of the Corporation is installed is taken to be the subject of a covenant in favour of the Corporation pursuant to which the owner from time to time of land in or on which the work is installed must ensure that:
(a) the work or any structure owned by, or under the control or management of, the Corporation is not wilfully or negligently destroyed, damaged or interfered with, and (b) the Corporation and persons issued with certificates of authority under section 39 are not delayed or obstructed in and about the taking, in relation to the work, of any of the steps referred to in section 37 (2), and (c) no structure is placed in, on or near the work in a manner that interferes with the operation of the work, and (d) ground is not opened to expose any pipe or other work of the Corporation without reasonable excuse, or the consent of the Corporation, and without giving the Corporation at least 2 days’ written notice of intention to open the ground unless that requirement is waived by the Corporation. (2) A lease, including a residential tenancy agreement within the meaning of the , is taken to include a term requiring the lessee of land referred to in subsection (1) or any part of it to comply with the same obligations, in relation to land, as are imposed by that subsection on the owner who has leased the land to the lessee. Residential Tenancies Act 2010
(1) If the Corporation has reasonable cause to believe that a tree is destroying, damaging or interfering with a work of the Corporation, the Corporation may, by written notice, require the owner of the land on which the tree is situated, within a reasonable period specified in the notice, to remove the tree, including all roots of the tree that are or may be destroying, damaging or interfering with the work. (2) The Corporation must reimburse the owner for the reasonable expenses of any action taken by the owner under this section unless the Corporation establishes that:
(a) after the work was first laid or installed, an owner or occupier planted the tree, or caused or permitted the tree to be planted, in, on or near the work in circumstances in which the owner or occupier should have known that destruction of, damage to or interference with the work would result, or (b) the work of the Corporation is located, within the land on which the tree has been planted, on land that was the subject of an easement in favour of the Corporation (or a predecessor of the Corporation) or an easement for water supply, sewerage or stormwater drainage purposes when the tree was planted. (3) An owner given notice under this section may, with the consent of the Corporation and without destroying, damaging or interfering with the Corporation’s works, take steps, other than removal of the tree, to eliminate the cause of the destruction of, damage to or interference with the Corporation’s works and any reasonable expectation of the destruction, damage or interference occurring in the future.
(1) An authorised person may issue a penalty notice to a person if it appears to the authorised person that the person has committed a penalty notice offence. (2) A penalty notice offence is an offence against this Act or the regulations that is prescribed by the regulations as a penalty notice offence.
(1) Offence If a water restriction offence occurs on any land and the identity of the person who committed the offence cannot be ascertained at the relevant time by an authorised person who witnessed the commission of the offence, the following are, subject to this section, taken to be guilty of the offence:
(a) each person who was an owner of the land at the relevant time, (b) each person who was an occupier of the land at the relevant time.
(1) The terms and conditions of customer contracts are to be set out in the operating licence or licences that relate to the provision of water supply or sewerage services by the Corporation.
(1) An owner of land that is connected to a water main or sewer main owned by the Corporation is taken to have entered into a customer contract with the Corporation, on the terms and conditions set out in the relevant operating licence or licences as varied from time to time in accordance with section 59, for the provision of water supply or sewerage services, or either of them, to the land. (2) In addition, a customer contract may also include terms and conditions relating to the imposition and payment of charges imposed under section 64 or 65. If a customer contract makes provision for such matters, a person by whom one or more of the charges are payable is taken to have entered into a customer contract with the Corporation on those terms and conditions.
(1) The terms and conditions of a customer contract may, subject to the approval of the Governor, be varied by the Corporation by a notice setting out or summarising the variation and published in a daily newspaper circulating in the area of operations. The notice must be published at least 6 months before the variation becomes effective or within a shorter period approved by the Minister.
(1) The Corporation may impose:
(a) fees and charges for or in connection with any service or thing supplied or provided by the Corporation in the exercise of its functions under this Act, and (b) without affecting the generality of paragraph (a)—availability charges and stormwater drainage area charges. (2) Any such fees and charges may be fixed by reference to any factors or combination of factors, including but not limited to the following:
(a) the nature of the service or thing provided, (b) the place where the service or thing is provided, (c) usage or estimated usage of the service or thing provided, (d) land value or any other value provided for in the and at such base date as the Corporation determines, Valuation of Land Act 1916 (e) land size, meter size or pipe size, (f) any factor specified in an operating licence or prescribed by the regulations.
(1) The Corporation may and, if so required by an operating licence must, require the owner of land that is not connected to a water main or sewer main owned by the Corporation and available for connection to pay an availability charge. (2) An availability charge imposed under this section may be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction as if it were a debt due to the Corporation.
(1) In this section, stormwater drainage area means an area of land declared by an order of the Governor published on the NSW legislation website to be a stormwater drainage area for the purposes of this section.(2) An order in force under section 28 (3) of the (as in force immediately before the commencement of section 86 of this Act) declaring an area of land to be a stormwater drainage area is taken to be an order for the purposes of this section. Water Board Act 1987
(1) If a consent authority within the area of operations receives a development application or building application in relation to any matter that would:
(a) increase the demand for water supplied by the Corporation, or (b) increase the amount of waste water that is to be removed by the Corporation, or (c) damage or interfere with the Corporation’s works, or (d) adversely affect the Corporation’s operations, or (e) the consent authority must give the Corporation notice of the application, unless it is relieved from doing so under subsection (2). (2) The consent authority is not required to give notice of the application if it decides:
(a) not to approve the application, or (b) to approve the application with a condition that the developer must obtain a compliance certificate from the Corporation.
(1) The Governor may, on the recommendation of the Minister, by order published on the NSW legislation website, declare an area of land described in the order to be a controlled area.
(1) A direction may be given to the board of the Corporation under section 20P of the without compliance with subsection (3) of that section if the portfolio Minister decides that this action is warranted on grounds involving urgency, public health or public safety. State Owned Corporations Act 1989
(1) A person must not do any kind of work of water supply, sewerage or stormwater drainage intended for direct or indirect connection with the pipes, sewers or drains of the Corporation unless the person:
(a) holds an endorsed licence or a supervisor certificate in force under the authorising the holder to do that kind of work, or Home Building Act 1989 (b) does the work under the immediate supervision of the holder of such a licence or certificate, or (c) holds a tradesperson certificate in force under the authorising the holder to do that work under supervision and does that work under the general supervision of the holder of a licence or certificate referred to in paragraph (a). Home Building Act 1989 Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units.
(1) The Corporation is to comply with requirements of Schedule 5 regarding the annual report of the operations of the Corporation, in addition to any other relevant requirements of the . State Owned Corporations Act 1989 (2) The regulations may amend or replace Schedule 5.
(1) The Governor may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, for or with respect to any matter that by this Act is required or permitted to be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.
(Section 101 (2))
(Section 111)