As a business or an individual, you can apply for a water rights permit to withdraw or discharge water from public surface waters—that is, from rivers, lakes, canals, streams, ditches, and ponds. The competent authority will review your application and decide whether the permit can be granted to you.

If you wish to withdraw water for public use, you do not need a water rights permit. This might be the case, for example, during a fire when you need to pump water to extinguish it.

In your application, you must provide the following information, among other things:

• Purpose of the withdrawal or discharge
• Duration, type, and volume of the withdrawal

To enable the authority to assess your project and its impacts, you must submit several documents along with your application, such as

• an explanatory report,
• site plans, and
• sketches of the pumping system and transport systems.

Depending on the nature of the project, the required documents can vary greatly in scope and detail. If in doubt, you should clarify with the authorities in advance which documents are required in your specific case.

The permit specifies the nature and extent of the use. It may be subject to conditions and ancillary provisions. Unlike an authorization, a permit can be revoked by the authorities.