Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009

Part 2 Principal expressions

3 “Flood” and “flood risk”

In this Act—

• “flood” means the temporary covering by water from any source of land not normally covered by water, but does not include a flood solely from a sewerage system (and related expressions such as “flooding” are to be construed accordingly),

• “flood risk” means the combination of the probability of a flood and of the potential adverse consequences, associated with a flood, for human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity,

• “flood solely from a sewerage system” means the temporary covering of land by sewage caused solely by a failure in or blockage of a sewerage system which is not connected with any loading on the system by external hydraulic factors (for example by heavier than usual rainfall or higher than usual river levels).

4 SEPA

In this Act, “SEPA” means the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

5 Responsible authorities

(1) For the purposes of this Act, responsible authorities are—

(a) local authorities,

(b) Scottish Water, and

(c) such other public bodies and office-holders (or public bodies or office-holders of such descriptions) as the Scottish Ministers may designate by order.

(2) Before making an order under subsection (1)(c), the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) SEPA,

(b) every responsible authority,

(c) the public bodies and office-holders who will be responsible authorities by virtue of the order being made, and

(d) such other persons as they consider appropriate.

6 “The Directive”

In this Act, “the Directive” means Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the assessment and management of flood risks.