Water Act 1989

Powers in relation to other land

4 (1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, the Authority, every water undertaker and every sewerage undertaker shall, for the purpose of carrying out its functions, have power—

(a) to lay a relevant pipe (whether above or below the surface) in any land which is not in, under or over a street and to keep that pipe there;

(b) to inspect, maintain, adjust, repair or alter any relevant pipe which is in any such land;

(c) to carry out on any such land all such works as are requisite for securing that the water in any relevant waterworks is not polluted or otherwise contaminated; and

(d) to carry out any works requisite for, or incidental to, the purposes of any works falling within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) above.

(2) Nothing in sub-paragraph (1) above shall authorise a water undertaker to lay a service pipe in, on or over any land except where—

(a) there is already a service pipe where that pipe is to be laid; or

(b) the undertaker is required to lay the pipe in, on or over that land by virtue of subsection (3)(b) or (c) or (4) of section 42 of this Act.

(3) The power conferred by virtue of paragraph (b) of sub-paragraph (1) above, and the power conferred in relation to that paragraph by virtue of paragraph (d) of that sub-paragraph, shall be exercisable in relation to a service pipe irrespective of the person to whom the pipe belongs; but expenses incurred in exercising those powers in relation to any pipe shall be recoverable from the person to whom the pipe belongs only if and to the extent that that person has agreed to pay them.

(4) The powers conferred by this paragraph shall be exercisable only after reasonable notice of the proposed exercise of the power has been given to the owner and to the occupier of the land where the power is to be exercised.

(5) Subject to sub-paragraph (6) below, in relation to any exercise of the powers conferred by this paragraph for the purpose of laying or altering a relevant pipe, the minimum period that is capable of constituting reasonable notice for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) above shall be deemed—

(a) where the power is exercised for the purpose of laying a relevant pipe otherwise than in substitution for an existing pipe of the same description, to be three months; and

(b) where the power is exercised for the purpose of altering an existing pipe, to be forty-two days.

(6) Sub-paragraph (5) above shall not apply in the case of any notice given within the period of one year beginning with the transfer date or in the case of any notice given with respect to the exercise of any power in an emergency or for the purpose of—

(a) laying or altering a service pipe; or

(b) complying with a duty imposed under section 40 or 71 of this Act.