(1)The duty of the Minister of Housing and Local Government (in this Act referred to as " the Minister ") under section 1 of the Water Act 1945 (which requires him to promote the conservation and proper use of water resources and the provision of water supplies in England and Wales, and to secure the effective execution by water undertakers, under his control and direction, of a national policy relating to water) shall be extended so as to require the Minister—
(a)in formulating a national policy relating to water, to include such measures as he may consider necessary or expedient for augmenting the water resources of areas in England and Wales, for re-distributing water resources in any such area or for transferring water resources from one such area to another, and
(b)to secure that, under his control and direction, that policy will be effectively executed by the river authorities and the Water Resources Board to be established under this Act, as well as by statutory water undertakers, in so far as that policy relates to matters falling within the functions of those bodies respectively.
(2)In this Act, subject to any express provision for including the Minister of Transport, " the Ministers " means the Minister and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and, in the case of anything falling to be done by the Ministers, means those Ministers acting jointly.
