Get advice before you apply for a water abstraction or impounding licence

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

When requesting advice, you need to provide enough information about your proposals and their location so the Environment Agency can understand them. Pre-application advice will be limited to the questions that you ask. Consider what advice you need and ask specific, targeted questions rather than broad requests.  

The Environment Agency will not confirm if a proposal is suitable or likely to be approved.

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

If you need more in-depth advice, the Environment Agency offers an enhanced pre-application advice service. As well as the information you can get through the free basic pre-application advice service, thisyou couldcan coverget 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.VAT.  

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

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

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
• provide advice on consents to investigate groundwater, before a consent has been issued. See apply for consent to investigate a groundwater source.

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.

For an enhanced pre-application request, you should include the specific questions you want advice on in your covering email or a supporting document.

What you will get

If you request free basic advice, you will get a response within 20 working days (Monday to Friday). If you need enhanced (paid for) advice, it is likely to take longer.

If the service can help, you will get the information by email.

If your project is large or complex

If your project requires multiple permits or licences, you can pay for a coordination service that manages advice across your whole proposal.

Check how to request environmental permit coordination for major projects.

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