Water (Scotland) Act 1980

109 Interpretation. S

(1) In this Act the following expressions shall subject to any express provision or anything in the context to the contrary have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—

• “agricultural lands and heritages” has the like meaning as in the M1 Rating and Valuation (Apportionment) Act 1928;

• [F1 “apportionment note” has the meaning assigned to it in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987;]

• “apportionment scheme” has the meaning assigned to it by section 86;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

• “Central Board” means the Central Scotland Water Development Board;

• “communication pipe”, subject to section 110, means—

(a) where the premises supplied with water abut on the part of the [F3 road] in which the main is laid and the service pipe enters those premises otherwise than through the outer wall of a building abutting on the [F3 road] and has a stopcock placed in those premises and as near to the boundary of that [F3 road] as is reasonably practicable, so much of the service pipe as lies between the main and that stopcock;

(b) in any other case, so much of the service pipe as lies between the main and the boundary of the part of the [F3 road] in which the main is laid; and includes the ferrule at the junction of the service pipe with the main, and also—

(i) where the communication pipe ends at a stopcock, that stopcock; and

(ii) any stopcock fitted on the communication pipe between the end thereof and the main;

• [F4 “community water charges” shall be construed in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 to the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987;]

• “constituent water authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 84(3);

• “contravention” includes failure to comply, and “contravene” shall be construed accordingly;

• “contributing authority” means—

(a) in relation to a water authority, any other regional council the whole or part of whose region is within the limits of supply of the water authority or in whose region water is supplied to premises by the water authority, and

(b) in relation to a water development board, a constituent water authority;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

• “enactment” means any Act of Parliament, whether public general, local or private, any statutory order or any provision in an Act of Parliament or statutory order;

• “fishery district” means a district for the purposes of the M2 Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1862; and

• “fishery district board” means the district board for a fishery district and for the purposes of this Act the Commissioners appointed under the M3 Tweed Fisheries Act 1969 shall be deemed to be a fishery district board, and the river, as defined by the said Act of 1969, shall be deemed to be their fishery district;

• “functions” includes powers and duties;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6

• “house” means a dwelling-house, whether a private dwelling-house or not, and includes any part of a building if that part is occupied as a separate dwelling-house;

• “land” includes land covered with water and any interest in land and any right or servitude in, to or over land and shall be interpreted accordingly for the purposes of any provisions of any Act incorporated with this Act;

• “limits of supply” has the meaning assigned to it in section 3(3);

• “local enactment” means any local Act of Parliament, any statutory order or any provision in any such Act of Parliament or statutory order;

• “main” means a pipe laid for the purpose of giving a general supply of water as distinct from a supply to individual consumers, and includes any apparatus used in connection with such a pipe;

• “navigation authority” means any persons or body of persons, whether incorporated or not, having powers under an enactment to work, maintain, conserve, improve or control any canal or other inland navigation, navigable river, estuary, harbour or dock;

• “net annual value” has the same meaning as in the M4 Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956;

• “occupier” means the tenant or sub-tenant or any person in the actual occupation of premises, but does not include a lodger or person in the occupation as tenant of a furnished house let for a period of less than a year, but includes the person by whom such a furnished house is let;

• “outer wall”, in relation to a building abutting on a street, does not include the outer wall of a cellar, or other structure, belonging to that building but situated beneath the street;

• “owner”, save in section 64 to 67, includes in relation to any land or other premises any person who under the Lands Clauses Acts would be enabled to sell and convey the land or other premises to the promoters of an undertaking;

• [F7 “part residential subjects” has the meaning assigned to it in section 26 (interpretation) of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987;]

• “performance”, in relation to functions, includes the exercise of powers as well as the performance of duties, and “perform” shall be construed accordingly;

• “premises” includes land and also tents, vans, sheds and similar structures;

• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State under this Act;

• [F8 “private road” and “public road” have the same meanings as in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984;]

• “reasonably practicable” means reasonably practicable in all the circumstances, including in any case where works are involved the expense involved in executing the works;

• “repeal”, in relation to a local enactment not contained in an Act, means revoke;

• “river purification authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 17 of the M5 Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951; [F9 and “river purification board” shall be construed in accordance with section 135 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973]

• [F10 “road” has the same meaning as in the [F11 Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950][F11 Part IV of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991];]

• [F10 “roads authority” has the same meaning as in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984;]

• “service pipe” means so much of any pipe for supplying water from a main to any premises as is subject to water pressure from that main, or would be so subject but for the closing of some tap;

• “statutory order” means an order or scheme made under an Act of Parliament, including an order or scheme confirmed by Parliament;

• “stream” includes a river, burn, spring or other running water;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12

• “a supply of water for domestic purposes” has the meaning assigned to it in section 7, and any reference to domestic purposes in relation to the supply of water shall be construed accordingly;

• “supply of water in bulk” means a supply of water for distribution by the water authority taking the supply;

• “supply pipe” means so much of any service pipe as is not a communication pipe;

• “water authority” has the meaning assigned to it in section 3;

• “watercourse” includes all rivers, streams, ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices and passages through which water flows;

• “water development board” means a board established by virute of section 82(1)(a) and includes the Central Board;

• “water fittings” includes pipes (other than mains), taps, cocks, valves, ferrules, meters, cisterns, baths, sinks, water-closets, soil-pans and other similar apparatus used in connection with the supply and use of water;

• “waterworks” includes streams, springs, wells, pumps, reservoirs, cisterns, tanks, aqueducts, cuts, sluices, mains, pipes, culverts, engines and all machinery, lands, buildings and things for supplying, or used for supplying, water or used for protecting sources of water supply.

(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13

(3) In the construction of any enactment incorporated with this Act, the expressions “the promoters of the undertaking” or “the company”, and “the special Act”, shall be construed as meaning respectively the water authority and water development board, and this Act.

(4) In this Act, except where otherwise indicated—

(a) a reference to a numbered Part, section or Schedule is a reference to the Part or section of, or the Schedule to, this Act so numbered, and

(b) a reference in a section to a numbered subsection is a reference to the subsection of that section so numbered, and

(c) a reference in a section, subsection or Schedule to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph of that section, subsection or Schedule so numbered.

[F14 (5) For the purposes of section 29(2) of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 (construction of reference to Register of Sasines etc.) this Act shall be deemed to be an enactment passed before that Act.]

Subordinate Legislation Made

P1 S. 109: for previous exercises of this power see Index to Government Orders

P2 S. 109(1): s. 76B (with ss. 76A, 76J, 101(1) and 109(1)) power exercised by S.I. 1991/1333

Textual Amendments

F1 Definition inserted by Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 47, SIF 81:2, 103:2), s. 25, Sch. 5 Pt. IV para. 49(a)

F2 Definition repealed by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1)(3), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(a)(i), Sch. 11

F3 Words substituted by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(a)(ii)

F4 Definition inserted by Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 47, SIF 81:2, 103:2), s. 25, Sch. 5 Pt. IV para. 49(b)

F5 Definitions repealed by Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 47, SIF 81:2, 103:2), s. 34, Sch. 6

F6 Definitions repealed by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1)(3), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(a)(iii), Sch. 11

F7 Definition inserted by Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 47, SIF 81:2, 103:2), s. 25, Sch. 5 Pt. IV para. 49(c)

F8 Definition inserted by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(a)(iv)

F9 Words added (1.10.1991) by Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 (c. 28, SIF 46:1, 130), s. 27(1), Sch. 10 para. 9(6); S.I. 1991/2187, art. 3, Sch.

F10 Definitions inserted by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(a)(v)

F11 “Part IV of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991” substituted (prosp.) for “Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950” by New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (c. 22, SIF 59, 108), ss. 168(1), 170, Sch. 8 para. 108(6)

F12 Definition repealed by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1)(3), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(a)(vi), Sch. 11

F13 S. 109(2) repealed by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1)(3), Sch. 9 para. 81(12)(b), Sch. 11

F14 S. 109(5) added by Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1981 (c. 23, SIF 81:2), s. 40, Sch. 3 para. 39

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 109: definitions applied (1.10.1991) by Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 (c. 28, SIF 46:1, 130), s. 22(1), S.I. 1991/2187, art. 3, Sch.

Marginal Citations

M1 1928 c. 44.

M2 1862 c. 97.

M3 1969 c. xxiv.

M4 1956 c. 60.

M5 1951 c. 66.