Water Act 1989

148 Admissibility of analyses of samples

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, the result of the analysis of any sample taken on behalf of the Authority in exercise of any power conferred by this Act shall not be admissible in any legal proceedings in respect of any effluent passing from any land or vessel unless the person who took the sample—

(a) on taking the sample notified the occupier of the land or the owner or master of the vessel of his intention to have it analysed;

(b) there and then divided the sample into three parts and caused each part to be placed in a container which was sealed and marked; and

(c) delivered one part to the occupier of the land or the owner or master of the vessel and retained one part, apart from the one he submitted to be analysed, for future comparison.

(2) If it is not reasonably practicable for a person taking a sample to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) above on taking the sample, those requirements shall be treated as having been complied with if they were complied with as soon as reasonably practicable after the sample was taken.

(3) In relation to any proceedings in respect of effluent passing from a public sewer or other outfall belonging to a sewerage undertaker into any water, this section shall have effect as if the references to the occupier of the land were references to the sewerage undertaker in which the sewer or outfall is vested.