Water Resources Act 1991

77 Provisions of drought order with respect to abstractions and discharges

(1) Any drought order which-

(a) authorises the taking of water from a source from which water is supplied to an inland navigation; or

(b) suspends or modifies—

(i) a restriction as respects the taking of water from a source from which water is supplied to an inland navigation; or

(ii) an obligation to discharge compensation water into a canal or into any river or stream which forms part of, or from which water is supplied to, an inland navigation,

may include provision for prohibiting or imposing limitations on the taking of water from the inland navigation or for the suspension or modification of any obligation to which a navigation authority are subject as respects the discharge of water from the inland navigation.

(2) A prohibition or limitation by or under a drought order on the taking of water from any source may be imposed so as to have effect in relation to a source from which a person to whom the prohibition or limitation applies has a right to take water whether by virtue of an enactment or instrument, an agreement or the ownership of land.

(3) Where a drought order made on the application of a water undertaker confers power on the Authority—

(a) to prohibit or limit the taking of water from any source; or

(b) to suspend or vary, or attach conditions to, any consent for the discharge of any effluent,

the Authority shall exercise that power in such manner as will ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that the supplies of water available to the water undertaker are not seriously affected.

(4) For the purposes of sections 125 to 129 below any water authorised by a drought order to be abstracted from a source of supply shall be treated as if it had been authorised to be so abstracted by a licence granted under Chapter II of this Part, whether the water undertaker to which the order relates is the holder of such a licence or not.

(5) Where—

(a) any drought order confers power on the Authority to suspend or vary, or attach conditions to, any consent for the discharge of any effluent; and

(b) the Authority exercises that power so as to restrict the discharge of effluent by a sewerage undertaker,

the sewerage undertaker may so modify any consents or agreements relating to the discharge by other persons of trade effluent as to enable it to comply with any requirements or conditions imposed on it by or under the order with respect to discharges from sewers or works of the undertaker.

(6) In this section—

• “compensation water” means water which a water undertaker or the Authority is under an obligation to discharge—

  (a)

  in accordance with the provisions of a licence under Chapter II of this Part into a source of supply; or

  (b)

  under any local statutory provision, into any river, stream, brook or other running water or into a canal;

  and

• “inland navigation” includes any canal or navigable river.