Water Restriction Breaches

Section 637 of the Local Government Act, 1993 (NSW) permits Council to apply a penalty to a person who wilfully or negligently wastes or misuses water from a public water supply. From s637, the maximum penalty for a person who wilfully or negligently wastes or misuses water from a public water supply or causes any such water to be wasted is 20 penalty units.

Penalties will be issued in line with Council’s POL/26032 Water Restrictions Enforcement Policy. 

Reporting a suspected water restriction breach

Council takes reports of breaches of water restrictions seriously and has a process in place to investigate these reports.  Automatic exemptions to exist for health, safety and emergency reasons and for certain businesses. Special exemptions and variations also may be granted on application.  

If you are concerned about or have seen, a suspected water restrictions breach and would like to make a report you can report it:

• online via our Online Services, you will need to log in or create an account to access this form, or 
• call one of our friendly Customer Service Officers, who will make the report on your behalf.  

To report online, click here to register or sign in and navigate to Requests Centre > Report It > Report Water Restrictions Breach.

Please note when reporting a suspected breach of water restrictions all personal information collected and used, is done so in accordance with Council’s Privacy Statement for the purpose of investigating a suspected water restrictions breach. The supply of information with an asterisk (*) is mandatory.