(1)It shall be the duty of water authorities to maintain, in accordance with regulations, registers containing prescribed particulars of—
(a)applications for consents made to the authorities in pursuance of this Part of this Act;
(b)consents given in pursuance of any provision of this Part of this Act (except section 40(4)) and the conditions to which the consents are subject;
(c)samples of effluent taken by the authorities in pursuance of section 113(1) of the [1963 c. 38.] Water Resources Act 1963 or, in Scotland, section 19 of the [1951 c. 66.] Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951, samples of water taken by the authorities, information produced by analyses of the samples and the steps taken in consequence of the information;
(d)certificates issued in pursuance of the following section ;
(e)notices of which copies have been served on the authorities in pursuance of section 51(3)(b) of this Act other than notices of rejections of applications.
(2)It shall be the duty of a water authority—
(a)to secure that registers maintained by the authority in pursuance of the preceding subsection are, after such date as is prescribed with respect to the registers, open to inspection by the public free of charge at all reasonable hours; and
(b)to afford members of the public reasonable facilities for obtaining from the authority, on payment of reasonable charges, copies of entries in the register.