If you have a flow meter, you can use it to tell you how much water you use per day. If you do not measure how much water you use, you can estimate your water use with a tool created by the EPA, available here. Worked examples using the estimation tool are available here.

A proposed new abstraction, or an increase to an existing abstraction, between 25m³/day and 1,999m³/day must be notified to the Agency before commencing. The Agency will carry out an assessment to determine if a licence is required. A proposed abstraction that meets or exceeds 2,000m³/day requires a licence and an application must be made to the Agency for a licence. You cannot commence that abstraction until authorised to do so by the Agency.  

Certain abstraction activities are exempted, and these are set out in Part 4 of the Regulations. The Regulations set out requirements which must be satisfied for these exempted abstractions. The categories of exempted abstractions are listed under the following headings:

• Abstraction from borehole or well to provide drinking water to domestic dwelling.
• Temporary abstractions to facilitate carrying out of works.
• Abstractions stored in impoundment or artificial storage pond built for the purpose of storing water which receives its inflow from an abstraction entered in the register.
• Abstractions for testing or investigative reasons.
• Temporary abstractions to facilitate any works or operations authorised by or under an enactment.
• Abstractions that are required for fire-fighting.
• Works relating to associated impoundment of an exempted abstraction. 

If you are not sure if the legislation applies to you, contact the EPA by emailing licensing@epa.ie 

Registration is free and can only be done online. Register your abstraction by following these steps:

1. Sign up to the EPA's EDEN website and request access to the Water Abstractions Module. Guidance on this process is available on the EPA website.
2. Submit your abstraction details in the Water Abstractions Module via the EDEN website. Guidance on this process is available on the EPA website.
3. When your registration is complete, you will receive a confirmation email from the EPA.

• The abstraction owner's name and address
• Abstraction location details, such as the address and Eircode (if available)
• Abstraction source details (is it from a river, lake, or spring?)
• Abstraction purpose details, such as industrial, agricultural, or commercial.
• The number of abstraction points.
• You also need to provide details of the highest amount of water you would abstract from the abstraction in one day (called the maximum daily abstraction volume, measured in m³/d). Typically, the highest volume of water would be used on a dry summer's day. You can provide an estimated value if you do not have an exact figure.
• The average amount of water you would use from the abstraction over the course of a year (called the annual abstraction volume, measured in cubic meters per year (m³/yr)). You can provide an estimated value if you do not have an exact figure.

If you are abstracting water from two or more abstraction points in the same waterbody which join to form one abstraction, register all points under the same registration. For example, a factory is abstracting from several wells to supply their process water.
In the situation where there are two or more abstractions that are not connected, then these abstractions should be registered separately. For example, if there were abstractions at two different farms that are several kilometres apart, the abstraction at each farm would be registered separately.

You must notify the Agency at edenabstractionsupport@epa.ie  of any material changes to the entry on the Register. These changes include but are not limited to the following: a change in the daily rate of abstraction, transfer of ownership of the abstraction, and cessation of the abstraction.

The abstractions register available to the general public can be downloaded here. Please note that the Register is being redeveloped to reflect the requirements of the Act and this will supersede this current version when published.

The EPA does not publish personal information or other information that could jeopardise the security of water supplies. This is in accordance with the protection of critical national infrastructure direction included under the EU Directive 2016/1148.

The EPA can share information on the water abstraction register with public bodies involved in water management. Information can be requested by contacting the EPA at edenabstractionsupport@epa.ie.