Water (Scotland) Act 1980

33 Temporary discharge of water into watercourses. S

(1) Subject to this section a water authority or water development board who are carrying out or are about to carry out the construction, alteration, repair, cleaning or examination of any reservoir, well or borehole, line of pipes or other work forming part of their undertaking may cause the water therein to be discharged into any available watercourse, and for that purpose may lay and maintain in any [F1 road] or in any land not forming part of a [F1 road], whether within or outside their limits of supply or their area, as the case may be, all necessary discharge pipes and apparatus; and such statutory provisions with respect to the breaking open of [F1 roads] as are applicable to the authority or board shall, with any necessary modifications and adaptations, apply accordingly.

(2) The power conferred by subsection (1) to lay and maintain discharge pipes and apparatus in land, other than land forming part of a [F2 road], shall not be exercised unless reasonable notice has been given to the owner and the occupier of that land.

(3) Except in a case of emergency and except insofar as may be otherwise agreed in writing between the water authority or water development board and the authority or board concerned, the water authority or water development board shall—

(a) not less than seven days before commencing to discharge any such water through a pipe exceeding nine inches in diameter, give notice of their intentions

[F3 (i)] to the fishery district board of any fishery district within which [F4 ; and

(ii) the river purification board in whose area,] any watercourse into which the water is to be discharged is situated;

(b) have due regard to any representations which may be made to them as to the time, mode and rate of discharge with a view to avoiding or minimising injury or inconvenience therefrom; and

(c) where the water is to be dishcharged into any river, canal or other inland navigation in respect of which a navigation authority exercise functions, not discharge the water without the written approval of the navigation authority, or except at such times as that authority may approve and in a manner approved by them as not likely to injure the river, canal or navigation or the banks thereof, or interfere with traffic thereon.

(4) Whenever the authority or board propose to discharge water on a number of occasions during a period, the giving by them of a general notice to that effect, accompanied by such particulars as it is reasonably practicable for them to give, shall constitute sufficient compliance by them with the provisions of subsection (3)(a).

(5) In the case of a river, subsection (3)(c) shall not apply if the point of discharge into the river is more than three miles above the limits within which the navigation authority exercise jurisdiction.

(6) An approval under subsection (3)(c)—

(a) shall not be withheld unreasonably, and any question whether it is withheld unreasonably or not shall be determined by the Secretary of State;

(b) shall be deemed to have been given unless notice of disapproval is given to the authority or board within seven days after the making of the application for the approval.

(7) If the Authority or board are requested by—

(a) the owner or occupier or any land which abuts on a watercourse at a point within three miles of any work of the authority or board from which water may be discharged into that watercourse under this section, or

(b) the clerk to any association of mill owners any of whose constituent members is such an owner or occupier, or

(c) the owner or occupier of a salmon fishing on a watercourse at such a point if such watercourse is within a fishery district for which no fishery district board has been constituted,

to register him for the purposes of this section, the authority or board shall enter his name and address in a register kept by them for the purpose and, so long as his name and address appear in the register, shall, except in a case of emergency and except insofar as may be otherwise agreed with him in writing, and unless the point at which the water is to be discharged is situated downstream of the land in respect of which he is so registered, send to him in respect of that watercourse the like notices as they are (in the absence of any emergency or agreement to the contrary) required under subsection (3)(a) to send to a fishery district board.

(8) Except insofar as may be otherwise agreed in writing, where the authority or board discharge water during an emergency, they shall forthwith give to the boards, authorities and persons registered under subsection (7) notice of such discharge and such further particulars relating to it as may reasonably be required.

(9) The authority or board shall take all necessary steps to secure that any water discharge by them under the provisions of this section shall be as free as reasonably practicable from mud and silt, from solid, polluting offensive or injurious matter and from any matter prejudicial to fish or spawn or to spawning beds or food of fish.

(10) A power conferred by this section shall not be exercised so as to damage or injuriously affect any works or other property of a railway company or navigation authority or so as to flood or damage any [F5 public road].

(11) In the exercise of the powers conferred by this section the authority or board shall do as little damage as possible and shall pay compensation to all persons for any damage sustained by them or liability to which they may become subject by reason of the exercise of those powers; and for the purposes of this subsection any extra expenditure which it becomes reasonably necessary for any public authority to incur for the purpose of properly discharging their statutory functions shall be deemed to be damage sustained by them.

(12) Any question as to the amount of the compensation to be paid under subsection (11) shall in case of dispute be determined by arbitration.

Textual Amendments

F1 Word substituted by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1), Sch. 9 para. 81(8)(a)

F2 Word substituted by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1), Sch. 9 para. 81(8)(b)

F3 “(i)” inserted (1.10.1991) by Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 (c. 28, SIF 46:1, 130), s. 27(1), Sch. 10 para. 9(3)(a)

F4 Words inserted (1.10.1991) by Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 (c. 28, SIF 46:1, 130), s. 27(1), Sch. 10 para. 9(3)(b)

F5 Words substituted by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(1), Sch. 9 para. 81(8)(c)