Licence needed for pump

Recently I inquired about having a spear point pump installed to use bore water for our gardens and was surprised to be told by the tradesman that he could not work on my spear point without a licence.

Apparently it is illegal to have a spear point to access underground water without a licence.

Well, they don't really call it a licence. It is called an authorisation.

After speaking to quite a few residents on the Peninsula, I found that none of them were aware this even existed.

When inquiring with the NSW Department of Water, I was further surprised after speaking to staff in the department that they were very serious about applying fines to people who operated a spear point without the appropriate licence.

The staff person that I spoke to also advised me that the person who was constructing the bore needed a licence as well and that there were quite a few "rogue" tradesmen in the area.

Luckily I had chosen a licensed tradesman from your paper.

I now have my licence and I'm ready to put in my spear point - legally!!

I thought your readers might be interested in knowing about this licence as there is quite a hefty fine involved if you don't have a licence to have a spear point on your property.

How is the general public supposed to know about these things unless it is made public knowledge?

Email, 20 Dec 2011 Marilyn Russell, Umina