Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973 (REPEALED)

Civil liability of Department for escapes of water N.I.

57A.—(1) Where an escape of water onto agricultural land or forestry land, however caused, from a main or from a service pipe (within the meaning of paragraph (7)) causes loss or damage, the Department shall be liable, except as otherwise provided by this Article, for the loss or damage.

(2) The Department shall not incur any liability under paragraph (1) if the escape was due wholly to the fault of the person who suffered the loss or damage or of any servant, agent or contractor of his.

(3) The Department shall not incur any liability under paragraph (1) in respect of any loss or damage suffered by—

(a) any person authorised by any statutory provision to carry on any railway or road transport undertakingF1 . . . ; or

(b) any person to whom the[F2 electronic communications code] applies falling within section 10(1)(a) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 (persons authorised by licence to run[F2 an electronic communications network] ); or

[F3 (bb) any holder of a licence under Article 10(1) of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992]

[F1 (bbb) any holder of a licence under Article 8(1) of the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.]

(c) the Post Office;

if the Department would not be liable for that loss or damage apart from paragraph (1).

(4) The Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1948,[F4 the Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989] and the Fatal Accidents (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 shall apply in relation to any loss or damage for which the Department is liable under this Article, but which is not due to the fault of the Department, as if it were due to the fault of the Department.

(5) Nothing in paragraph (1) affects any entitlement which the Department may have to recover contribution under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978; and for the purposes of that Act, any loss for which the Department is liable under that paragraph shall be treated as if it were damage.

(6) Where the Department is liable under any agreement or statutory provision made (in either case) before the commencement of the Water and Sewerage Services (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 to make a payment in respect of any loss or damage, the Department shall not incur any liability under paragraph (1) in respect of the same loss or damage.

(7) In this Article—

agricultural land means land used for agriculture for the purposes of a trade or business, and agriculture includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes;

damage includes the death of, or injury to, any person (including any disease and any impairment of physical or mental condition);

fault has the same meaning as in the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1948;

forestry land means land used for forestry for the purposes of a trade or business, and forestry means the growing of woods and forests for the production of timber and other forest products and the growing of trees for planting in such woods and forests;

land does not include any house or other building;

service pipe means so much of a service pipe as is vested in the Department.

F1 1996 NI 2

F2 2003 c. 21

F3 1992 NI 1

F4 1989 NI 11