Before you apply for an abstraction or impounding licence, you should:

1. Check if you need an abstraction licence or impounding licence. If you are still unsure you can request enhanced pre-application advice.

2. Check how much water is available in your area from the water abstraction licensing strategies.

3. Use the Environment Agency’s pre-application advice service to make an informed choice on whether to apply. You can get:

• basic advice – this service is free
• enhanced advice – you pay for this service

Basic advice

You can get free basic pre-application advice on:

• the type of licence you need
• which application forms you should use
• what guidance you must follow
• the administrative tasks you may need to do as part of your application
• where to find the application and annual charges

Enhanced (paid-for) advice

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The service could cover advice on:

• information you will need to include with your application
• assessments or monitoring you may need to complete or significant issues you may need to resolve before applying, for example, impacts on fish or eels, existing abstractors, geomorphology or the ecological status of a waterbody under the Water Framework Directive
• what important hydrological information you need to provide with your application and what information the Environment Agency can give you
• complex applications, such as high public interest, nationally significant infrastructure projects
• possible restrictions, for example on when you can abstract and monitoring requirements
• complex application charge questions
• complex modelling for certain groundwater scenarios, including analysis of groundwater investigation consent results
• whether you need a licence if you are still not sure after you have used the check if you need an abstraction licence or impounding licence guidance

How much it costs

The enhanced service costs £100 an hour plus VAT.

How long it will take to prepare the advice will depend on how complex your proposal is.is and what you need advice on.

The Environment Agency will discuss your proposal with you and give you a written cost estimate. This will include:

• a list of the work they will carry outout, with costs
• when you will be charged

If you send new information related to your request, the Environment Agency may need to revise the cost estimate. They will write to you to agree any changes to the amount of the work they will carry out.

You need to agree to any cost estimates in writing before the Environment Agency can start work on your application.

What the service cannot help with

The pre-application advice service cannot:

• confirm that all or part of your licence application will be acceptable before you have applied
• confirm that you will get a licence when you apply
• plan or design your abstraction scheme
• carry out hydrological monitoring for you if you need to provide this with your application

Request pre-application advice

To get pre-application advice for:

• a hydropower scheme, see new hydropower scheme: apply to build one
• an open loop heat pump system, use the application forms on open loop heat pump systems: permits, consents and licences
• abstracting groundwater, you must first check if you need to apply for consent to investigate a groundwater source – this includes from boreholes, wells, springs, quarries and mineral workings

For all other proposals use the relevant application forms and guidance notes to ask for pre-application advice. For:

• abstraction, complete part A and part B
• impounding, complete part A and part D

The forms explain where to send the information.

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If you cannot use the forms

If you cannot use or access the form you need, please contact the Environment Agency.