Water Resources Act 1963

2 Meaning of " water resources "

(1) In this Act "water resources", in relation to any area, means water for the time being contained in any source of supply in that area, and " source of supply ", in relation to any area, means ether of the following, that is to say—

(a) so much of any inland water, other than any inland water falling within subsection (3) of this section, as is situated in that area, and

(b) any underground strata in that area.

(2) For the purposes of this Act water for the time being contained in—

(a) a well, borehole or similar work, including any adit or passage constructed in connection with it for facilitating the collection of waiter in the well, borehole or work, or

(b) any excavation into underground strata, where the level of water in the excavation depends wholly or mainly on water entering it from those strata,

shall be treated as water contained in the underground strata into which the well, borehole or work was sunk, or the excavation was made, as the case may be.

(3) Except as provided by the last preceding subsection, an inland water which ether—

(a) is a lake, pond or reservoir which does not discharge to any other inland water, or

(b) is one of a group of two or more lakes, ponds or reservoirs (whether near to or distant from each other) and of watercourses or mains connecting them, where none of the inland waters in the group discharges to any inland water outside the group,

does not constitute a source of supply for the purposes of this Act.