Water Act 1989

165 Maps of water mains etc

(1) Subject to subsections (4) and (5) below, it shall be the duty of the Authority and of every water undertaker to keep records of the location of—

(a) every resource main, water main or discharge pipe which is for the time being vested in the Authority or, as the case may be, that undertaker; and

(b) any other underground works, other than a service pipe, which are for the time being vested in the Authority or, as the case may be, that undertaker.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Authority and of every water undertaker to secure that the contents of any records for the time being kept by it under this section are available, at all reasonable times, for inspection by the public free of charge at an office of the Authority or, as the case may be, of the undertaker.

(3) Any information which is required under this section to be made available by the Authority or a water undertaker for inspection by the public shall be so made available in the form of a map.

(4) For the purpose of determining whether any failure to make a modification of any records kept under this section constitutes a breach of the duty imposed by subsection (1) above, that duty shall be taken to require any modification of the records to be made as soon as reasonably practicable after the completion of the works which make the modification necessary; and, where records kept under this section are modified, the date of the modification and of the completion of the works making the modification necessary shall be incorporated in the records.

(5) Nothing in this section shall require the Authority or a water undertaker, at any time within the period of ten years beginning with the transfer date, to keep records of—

(a) any pipe which was laid before that date; or

(b) any underground works which were completed before that date,

unless those particulars were shown, immediately before that date, on a map kept by a water authority or statutory water company under section 12 of Schedule 3 to the 1945 Act (maps of underground works).

(6) The reference in subsection (5) above to section 12 of Schedule 3 to the 1945 Act shall have effect, without prejudice to section 20(2) of the [1978 c. 30.] Interpretation Act 1978 (references to enactments to include references to enactments as amended, extended or applied), as including a reference to that section as applied, with or without modifications, by any local statutory provision.

(7) The duties of a water undertaker under this section shall be enforceable under section 20 above by the Secretary of State.

(8) In this section “resource main” and “discharge pipe” have the same meanings as in paragraph 1 of Schedule 19 to this Act.