Water (Scotland) Act 1980

93 Obtaining of information as to underground water

(1) Any person who proposes to sink, for the purpose of searching for or abstracting water, a well or borehole intended to reach a depth of more than 50 feet below the surface shall, before he begins to do so, give to the Natural Environmental Research Council notice in writing of his intention to do so, and shall keep a journal of the progress of the work, which shall include measurements of the strata passed through, and all the levels at which water is struck and subsequently rests, and shall allow any person authorised by the said council for the purpose, on the production of some duly authenticated document showing his authority, at all reasonable times—

(a) to have free access to any such well or borehole;

(b) to inspect the well or borehole and the material excavated therefrom;

(c) to take specimens of such material and of water abstracted from the well or borehole ; and

(d) to inspect and take copies of or extracts from the journal required to be kept under this section.

(2) The person sinking any such well or borehole shall, on completion or abandonment of the work, send a complete copy of the journal kept under subsection (1) to the council and shall also send them particulars of any test made, before such completion or abandonment, of the flow of water, specifying the rate of flow throughout the test and the duration of the test, and also, where practicable, specifying the water levels during the test and thereafter until the water has returned to its natural level.

(3) Where any such well or borehole is sunk in connection with an existing pumping station, the particulars of any test to be supplied to the council shall also include the rate of pumping at the existing works during the test.

(4) Where the person sinking a well or borehole on any land is not the occupier of the land, the obligation to allow a person authorised by the council to exercise the rights specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) shall be the obligation of the occupier as well as of the person sinking the well or borehole.

(5) Where any person contracts to sink any well or borehole on land belonging to or occupied by any other person and the execution of the work is under the control of the contractor, the contractor and no other person shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to be the person sinking the well or borehole.

(6) The person sinking a well or borehole or (if a different person) the owner or occupier of the land on which it is sunk may give notice in writing to the council requiring them to treat as confidential any copy of or extract from the journal required to be kept under subsection (1) or any specimen taken under that subsection, and the council shall thereupon not allow that copy, extract or specimen, except in so far as it contains or affords information as to water resources and supplies, to be published or shown to any person not being an officer of the council or of the Secretary of State, unless the person giving the notice consents thereto:

Provided that, if at any time the council give notice to that person that in their opinion his consent is unreasonably withheld, then that person may, within three months after the notice is given by the council, appeal to the Court of Session, but if at the expiration of that period no such appeal has been made, or if after hearing the appeal the Court does not make an order restraining them from doing so, the council may proceed as if such consent had been given.

(7) Any person who fails to comply with any obligation imposed on him by the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding £200 and, where the offence continues after conviction, to a further fine of £20 for every day during which it so continues.