Under the N.B. Clean Water Act, any activity taking place in or within 30 metres of a watercourse or wetland requires a WAWA permit. At the request of members, our Association developed a DRAFT Watercourse and Wetland Alteration (WAWA) permit application handbook. The DRAFT handbook explains the process and rules around applying for a WAWA permit, and gives five examples of WAWA applications that were successful. The N.B. Department of Environment and Local Government (DELG) WAWA permit application web page has a link to the online WAWA permit application process. The five page N.B. DELG Bank Protection Projects document dated June, 2019 has some good technical guidelines for bio-technical bank stabilization, rip-rap / armour stone and retaining wall erosion protection systems. On March 3, 2026 we hosted a webinar with speakers from DELG where they provided attendees with information relating to shoreline stewardship and the WAWA permitting process. The slide deck is available here.
Please note: If there are any discrepancies between our DRAFT WAWA Handbook and the information provided on the N.B. Department of Environment and Local Government WAWA Permit website, the information on the Department’s website prevails.
