What the ACCC does

  • We produce a water monitoring report for the Minister on water market and charging arrangements in the Murray-Darling Basin.
  • We monitor and enforce rules made under the Water Act 2007. These include the Water Market Rules 2009 and Water Charge Rules 2010.
  • We advise the Minister on the water market and water charge rules.
  • We advise the Murray-Darling Basin Authority on the Basin Plan’s water trading rules.

What the ACCC can't do

  • We don’t regulate urban water prices.
  • We don’t monitor urban water charges or water charges outside of the Murray-Darling Basin.

On this page

What we do in water monitoring

The ACCC monitors:

The purpose of our monitoring is to inform the Minister and other interested parties about our findings and any trends we identify in termination, transformation and trade in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Water monitoring reports

We provide the Minister with a water monitoring report each year. This is in line with the agreement between the Minister and the ACCC.

Current monitoring report

Previous monitoring reports

See ACCC water monitoring reports for a complete list of reports we have published.

Enforcing water market and water charge rules

We enforce the Water Market Rules 2009 and the Water Charge Rules 2010 under the Water Act 2007.

We can use a range of tools to encourage compliance and address breaches of the water market rules and water charge rules. Measures include taking a business to court and accepting an enforceable undertaking.

Infringement notices we have imposed and undertakings we have accepted are held on the Section 163 undertakings public register.

Guide for infrastructure operators

Water advice and advocacy

When required, the ACCC advises the Minister on making or amending the water market rules and water charge rules.

We also advise the Murray-Darling Basin Authority on the water trading rules in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. We set regulated charges for on-river infrastructure operators, when this function hasn’t been returned to a Murray-Darling Basin State regulator.

The ACCC sometimes provides submissions to external water consultations as part of our advocacy role.

Under the water charge rules, we can also make decisions on regulatory arrangements.

ACCC water policy advice and advocacy

Ask us a question on water

Contact us if you have a question on the ACCC regulation of water or need further guidance on the water rules or water trading.

Email us a question

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