Recreational Areas Regulations

The updated Water (Recreational Area) Regulations will support ongoing enjoyment of Victoria’s water storages by the public, while ensuring the safety of visitors and the protection of water quality, water corporation facilities, Aboriginal cultural heritage, and environmental values.

DEECA has commenced work on updating regulations for Recreational Areas managed by Water Corporations under the Water Act 1989. The updated regulations are needed to replace the Model By-Law: Recreational Areas (2012) which was due to expire in October 2022.

The Minister for Water extended the existing Model By-Law for 12 months in August 2022 to enable time for a thorough community consultation process, and to ensure Water Corporations could continue managing recreational areas while the updated regulations are developed. The updated regulations are expected to be in place by mid-2023.

The updated regulations will apply to 40 of Victoria’s water storages, which have been determined as Recreational Areas under the Water Act 1989. (See Table below)

Water Corporations manage these storages to supply water for irrigation, and urban, rural and environmental use while also providing a broad range of opportunities for recreation and tourism. Many are high visitation sites with significant infrastructure for camping, boating, fishing, picnics and barbeques.

Some Recreational Areas are important sites of cultural heritage and are of significance to Traditional Owners. They also perform environmental functions, such as providing habitat for plant and animal species and are important sites for fire management and catchment protection.

It is anticipated that the updated regulations will remain largely consistent with what has been in place to date, with some improvements to provisions to ensure consistency with other legislation, including the introduction of Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs).

Water corporation officers will be responsible for monitoring and enforcing the regulations, as currently occurs at sites where water corporations have the Model By-Law in place.

The updated regulations will continue to facilitate safe public access to Recreational Areas like Lake Eildon.

Receive notifications of updated Recreational Area Regulations, and show your interest in attending an information session

To assist DEECA in finalising the regulations, we will be running a public consultation period in late March or early April.

This will include seeking feedback on the draft Regulations and running online information sessions in late March or early April 2023 to answer your questions and provide interested groups and the public with information about the updated regulations.

Register your interest to engage in the updated Recreational (Water) Regulations

If you have any questions or for further information, please email the Recreational Values team at: recreational.water@delwp.vic.gov.au.

The Recreational Values team will be in contact with more information on how you can provide feedback on the updated Recreational Area Regulations will be available via EngageVIC in late March or early April 2023.

Consultation

DEECA established a Working Group in July 2021 with representatives from 7 Water Corporations that manage water storages with significant levels of public visitation and recreation in their region. The Working Group’s function is to provide advice on how the updated regulations can help Water Corporations more effectively manage Recreational Areas and to assist DEECA in developing the consultation draft.

DEECA is also undertaking targeted consultation with Traditional Owners, statutory authorities, other relevant areas of DELWP and with other Victorian Government departments during the development of the consultation draft of the regulations.