NOTIFICATION OF GROUNDWATER SOURCES REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 549.164

NOTIFICATION OF GROUNDWATER SOURCES

REGULATIONS

7th October, 2008

LEGAL NOTICE 255 of 2008, as amended by Legal Notices 274 of 2008,

204 of 2009 and 460 of 2011 and Act XVII of 2024.

The title of these regulations is the Notification of

Groundwater Sources Regulations.

(Regulation 3)

Repealed by Act XVII.2024.40.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires

"Act" means the Environment Protection Act;

"the Authority" means the Environment and Resources Authority

established by article 6 of the Act;

"coastal aquifer" means an unconfined groundwater body

sustained in the upper coralline limestone by an underlying layer of

clay and bounded by the freshwater-saltwater interface at the coast;

"effective control of use" shall mean the user ’s exercise of

control over the groundwater source in question;

"groundwater" means all water which is below the surface of the

ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground

or subsoil;

"groundwater source" or "source" means any shaft, adit, opening,

hole, spring outlet or well artificially dug in the ground or

artificially enlarged, which has access to groundwater or from

which groundw at er is abstracted or can be abstracted or is

vertically deeper than half the distance between the well head and

the nearest water table at that point, but it does not include a water

retaining cistern;

"mean sea level aquifer" means an unconfined groundwater body

located at sea-level and bounded laterally by the coast and

vertically by the freshwater-saltwater interface;

"notification fee" means the fee paid in respect of the application

for a notification of a groundwater source in accordance with these

regulations;

"officer" means and includes any person engaged by, detailed for

duty with, or in any manner whatsoever performing duties for or on

behalf of the Authority;

"perched aquifer" means an unconfined groundwater body

sustained in the upper coralline limestone by an underlying layer of

clay;

"registration fee" means the fee paid in respect of the registration

of a groundwater source in accordance with the Registration of

Groundwater Sources Regulations, 1997 * ;

"user" means the person who, solely or jointly with others,

exercises effective control and use over the groundwater source in

question.

(2) The definitions in the Act shall also be applicable to these

regulations, unless the context requires otherwise.

(1) Any groundwater source which has not been registered

in accordance with the Registration of Groundwater Sources

Regulations, 1997*, shall be notified to the Authority by all users

of such groundwater source until the 20th November, 2008.

(2) The applicant for the notification of a groundwater source

shall provide all the necessary information and documentation as

required in the application form for notification provided by the

Authority, and shall include all the details and satisfy all the

requirements therein.

(3) The form indicated in sub-regulation (2) thereof may be

collected from any place which the Authority may designate or may

be downloaded from the Authority’s website.

(4) A groundwater source registered with the Water Services

Corporation under the Registration of Groundwater Sources

Regulations, 1997 * after the 3rd of September 1997 shall be

deemed to have been notified under these regulations.

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of these

regulations, a groundwater source which falls under one of the

following categories

2008. (a) a groundwater source dug or enlarged prior to the year

1955

Provided that only those groundwater sources which,

in terms of records possessed by the Authority are

shown to have been dug or enlarged prior to the year

1955 are to be considered by the Authority as to have

been so dug or enlarged; or

(b) a shaft wider than three (3) feet in diameter located in

the surface catchment area of a perched aquifer or a

coastal aquifer and used to draw water from above the

blue clay formation; or

(c) a shaft wider than three (3) feet in diameter located in

the surface catchment area of a mean sea level aquifer

which does not exceed 50 metres in depth,

may be notified to the Authority after the 20th November, 2008 by

all users of such groundwater source by means of the application

form as provided by the Authority

Provided that in the case of the groundwater sources

referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c), the applicant shall present

proof of the existence of the groundwater source before the year

1992. *Revoked by these regulations.

*Revoked by these regulations.

(2) The Authority shall publish a notice in the Gazette,

containing the details of any applications validly received in terms

of this regulation. A groundwater source shall not be deemed to be

notified until the issue of a decision by the Authority. If the

application for the notification of a groundwater source is refused

by the Authority, the applicant shall close the groundwater source

in accordance with the directions of the Authority.

(1) There shall be paid to the Authority, upon the

application for the notification of a groundwater source, a non-

refundable notification fee of two hundred and fifty euro (€250).

(2) A groundwater source shall not be deemed to have been

notified for the purposes of these regulations unless and until the

relative notification fee has been paid.

(3) If a groundwater source is used by more than one person,

only one notification for such groundwater source shall be required

to be submitted to the Authority and one notification fee shall be

due with respect to such groundwater source.

The Authority may designate any of its officers thereof or

any other person acting on its behalf to carry out duties in

connection with, or arising from, these regulations.

(1) The notification of a groundwater source in terms of

these regulations does not in any way give any right to any person

notifying a groundwater source in terms of these regulations, or to

any user, to draw water from such source, or to dispose of any

material, whether liquid or solid, in such source, or to keep open

such source, and the Authority may at any time order such person

or user to close such groundwater source, notwithstanding that such

source has been notified and the notification fee paid in accordance

with these regulations.

(2) If the Authority orders any person or user to close a

groundwater source, the registration fee or the notification fee

which would have been paid in respect of such source shall not be

refunded.

(3) The provisions of this regulation shall mutatis mutandis

apply to any user or groundwater source registered in terms of the

Registration of Groundwater Sources Regulations, 1997*.

The notification of a groundwater source made by any user

in terms of these regulations shall in no way prejudice any rights or

claims which third parties may have over such source.

(1) Any user of a groundwater source who fails to notify

the Authority within the period established in regulation 3 or

submits incorrect, incomplete or false information in the

notification form, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to

a fine (multa) of not less than nine thousand and three hundred euro

(€9,300) but not exceeding eighteen thousand and six hundred euro

(€18,600) and to the confiscation of the equipment used in the same

groundwater source.

(2)

Such fine shall be payable within period of time as the

Court in passing sentence shall direct.

(3) Such fine and confiscation of equipment shall be without

prejudice to any other punishmnet for which the user would be

liable under any other law or regulation.

NOTIFICATION OF GROUNDWATER SOURCES