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Water related legislation

This page provides information about the following policies and regulations:

For more information, also refer to the Environment Protection Act 1970.

State Environment Protection Policy (Waters of Victoria)

This policy was gazetted as:

  • State Environment Protection Policy (Waters of Victoria)
    23/2/1988, Gazette 26/2/1988, 15/3/1988 - as varied 6/2/1990, Gazette 6/2/1990
    As varied Schedule F5 (Waters of the Latrobe and Thompson River Basins and the Merriman Creek Catchment) No. S122, Gazette 22/10/1996
    As varied Schedule F6 (Waters of the Port Phillip Bay) No. S101, Gazette 27/8/1997
    As varied Schedule F7 (Waters of the Yarra Catchment) No. S89, Gazette 22/6/1999
    As varied Schedule F8 (Waters of Western Port and Catchment) No. S192, Gazette 2/11/2001
    Insertion of Schedule F3 (Gippsland Lakes and Catchment) No. S13, Gazette 26/2/1988

    As varied 3/6/2003, No. S107, Gazette 4/6/2003
    As varied 5/10/2004. No. S210, Gazette 5/10/2004

View the most recent variation of the Gazette (No. S210) (Adobe PDF file from Craftsman Press - the Victorian Government Gazette printer).

View the first variation of the Gazette (No. S107) (Adobe PDF file from Craftsman Press – the Victorian Government Gazette printer). Note that this variation is the updated version of the State Environment Protection Policy (Waters of Victoria).

View the varied Schedule F8 Gazette (No. S192) (Adobe PDF file from Craftsman Press - the Victorian Government Gazette printer).

View the varied Schedule F7 Gazette (No. S89) (Adobe PDF file from Craftsman Press - the Victorian Government Gazette printer).

View the varied Schedule F6 Gazette (No. S101) (Adobe PDF file, 2183KB or 2.2MB).

View the varied Schedule F5 Gazette (No. S122) (Adobe PDF file, 2435KB or 2.4MB).

View the insertion of Schedule F3 Gazette (No. S13) (Adobe PDF file, 727KB).

Hard copies (paper) of these documents are available for viewing at the EPA Victoria Library.

A schedule contains information relevant to the piece of legislation. It exists at the end of the Act or other legislation, rather than in the body itself. Most commonly, schedules are used to set out forms referred to by the legislation, tabulated data and lengthy sets of rules.

Water ecosystems cleanse our water to provide food and shelter for aquatic life, enable simple pleasures such as swimming and fishing, and provide necessities such as water for drinking, agriculture and industry. The SEPP (Waters of Victoria), which applies to all surface waters of Victoria, aims to provide a co-ordinated approach for the protection and, where necessary, rehabilitation of the health of Victoria's water environments. This policy protects the environmental values, beneficial uses and associated social and economic values of the water environment to ensure that the needs of current and future generations are met. Specific schedules to SEPP (Waters of Victoria) deal with specific individual catchments and have more detailed requirements that apply within the catchments in question.

A summary of the State Environment Protection Policy (Waters of Victoria) (Adobe PDF file, 1311KB or 1.3MB) is also available.

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State Environment Protection Policy (Groundwaters of Victoria)

The SEPP (Groundwaters of Victoria) was developed to meet community demands for an integrated framework of environment protection goals for groundwater.

More about the State Environment Protection Policy (Groundwaters of Victoria)

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Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water)

This policy aims to stop the spread of existing marine pests and prevent new invasions. It requires ships to not discharge any high risk ballast water into Victorian State waters.

More about WMP (Ships' Ballast Water)

Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006

The objectives of the Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006 are to support the implementation of the Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water) by setting out the administrative requirements and services necessary to protect Victorian State waters and applying fees for ships visiting a port in Victoria to recover the costs associated with delivering these services. The regulations also introduce penalties for ships that fail to comply with the requirements.

The regulations are available online at the Victorian Law Today Library. Hard copies (paper) are available from the Information Victoria Bookshop and for viewing at the EPA Victoria Library.

Get more information about Victoria's domestic ballast water management.

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Pollution of Waters by Oils and Noxious Substances Act 1986

Get details about the Pollution of Waters by Oils and Noxious Substances Act 1986.

Pollution of Waters by Oil and Noxious Substances Regulations 2002

The Pollution of Waters by Oil and Noxious Substances Regulations 2002 prevent the pollution of water by oil and other noxious substances. The regulations outline to whom, how and within what time frame a discharge or probable discharge of oil or an oily mixture must be reported. They prescribe the operations and occurrences of a ship's oil record book and other matters relating to the retention of and fees for the deposit of oil record books.

These regulations are jointly administered by EPA and Marine Safety Victoria.

The Pollution of Waters by Oil and Noxious Substances Regulations are available online at the Victorian Law Today Library. Hard copies (paper) are available from the Information Victoria Bookshop and for viewing at the EPA Victoria Library.

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Publications

An extensive range of water related publications is also available.

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