Water Act 1989

The Water Act 1945 (c. 42)

7 (1) In section 14 of the 1945 Act (waste of water from wells and boreholes)—

(a) in subsection (10), for the words from “application” to “take” there shall be substituted the words “application of the National Rivers Authority, authorise that Authority to take”; and

(b) in subsection (12)—

(i) for the words from the beginning to “the authority”, in the first place where they occur, there shall be substituted the words “Any person authorised for the purpose by the National Rivers Authority”;

(ii) the words “if so required,” shall be omitted; and

(iii) for the words “the authority or undertakers have” there shall be substituted the words “the National Rivers Authority has”.

(2) In section 15(1) of the 1945 Act (agreements as to drainage of land)—

(a) for the words “Statutory water undertakers”, “undertakers consider”, “undertakers are” and “undertakers shall” there shall be substituted, respectively, the words “A water undertaker”, “undertaker considers”, “undertaker is” and “undertaker shall”; and

(b) for paragraph (a) of the proviso there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(a) consult the National Rivers Authority; and”.

(3) In section 16 of the 1945 Act (power to prohibit or restrict the use of hosepipes)—

(a) in subsection (1), for the words “statutory water undertakers are”, “distribution by them”, “they may”, “they think”, “their limits of supply” and “supplied by them” there shall be substituted, respectively, the words “water undertaker is”, “distribution by the undertaker”, “it may”, “it thinks”, “its area” and “supplied by the undertaker”;

(b) in subsections (2) and (4), for the word “undertakers”, in each place where it occurs, there shall be substituted the words “water undertaker”;

(c) in subsection (4), the words “to be settled in case of dispute by a court of summary jurisdiction” and the words from “The procedure” onwards shall be omitted; and

(d) in subsection (5)—

(i) for the words “any officer of the undertakers” there shall be substituted the words “any person authorised for the purpose by the water undertaker.”; and

(ii) the words “if so required” shall be omitted.

(4) In section 21 of the 1945 Act (penalty for polluting water used for human consumption)—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) for the words “any spring, well, borehole or adit, the water from” there shall be substituted the words “the water in any waterworks”; and

(ii) for the words “any such spring, well, borehole or adit” there shall be substituted the words “the water in any waterworks”;

(b) in subsection (2), for the words from the beginning to “adit”, in the second place where it occurs, there shall be substituted the words “Any person authorised for the purpose by any local authority or water undertaker within whose area any such waterworks are situated, or by any water undertaker which takes water from any such waterworks, shall, on producing some duly authenticated document showing his authority, have a right at all reasonable hours to enter any premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is or has been any contravention of this section in relation to those waterworks”;

(c) after subsection (2) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(2A) Nothing in subsection (2) of this section shall entitle any person authorised for the purposes of that subsection by a local authority to have access to any waterworks belonging to a water undertaker.”;

and

(d) after subsection (3) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(4) In this section “waterworks” includes—

(a) any spring, well, adit, borehole, service reservoir or tank; and

(b) any main or other pipe or conduit of a water undertaker.”

(5) In section 35 of the 1945 Act (property in and damage to water fittings)—

(a) in subsection (2), for the words “fittings let for hire by the undertakers”, “undertakers as the actual owners” and “by, the undertakers” there shall be substituted, respectively, the words “water fittings let for hire by a water undertaker”, “water undertaker as the actual owner” and “by, the undertaker”; and

(b) in subsection (4), for the words “the undertakers” there shall be substituted, in the first place where they occur, the words “a water undertaker” and, in the second place, the words “the water undertaker”.

(6) In section 41 of the 1945 Act (power of companies to issue redeemable stock)—

(a) in subsection (1), for the words “all” to “may have” there shall be substituted the words “every statutory water company (within the meaning of the Water Act 1989) which has created and issued any redeemable stock or has”;

(b) in subsections (2) to (6), for the word “undertakers”, wherever it occurs, there shall be substituted the word “company”; and

(c) in paragraph (b) of the proviso to subsection (3), after the word “enactment” there shall be inserted the words “or resolution”.

(7) In section 43 of the 1945 Act (appointment of officers as directors), for the words from the beginning to “then” there shall be substituted the words “Subject to any provision of a memorandum and articles having effect by virtue of an order made for the purposes of section 101(2)(c) of the Water Act 1989 (substitution of memorandum and articles) and to any modification of any such memorandum and articles, the following provisions shall have effect in relation to any statutory water company (within the meaning of that Act)”.

(8) In section 45 of the 1945 Act (false information), for the words “record or journal or in furnishing any return, abstract or” there shall be substituted the words “journal or in furnishing any”.

(9) Section 46 of the 1945 Act (restriction on right to prosecute) shall cease to have effect.

(10) In section 56 of the 1945 Act (service of notices etc.), for the words from “consent” to “either” there shall be substituted the words “which is required by any provision of this Act to be given to any person may be given”.

(11) In section 59(1) of the 1945 Act (interpretation), in the definition of “watercourse”, for the words “local authority or a water authority” there shall be substituted the words “sewerage undertaker”.