Discharge of waterE+W+S
15.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4) below, the undertaker may use any watercourse or any public sewer or drain for the drainage of water in connection with the carrying out or maintenance of the authorised project and for that purpose may inspect, lay down, take up and alter pipes and may, on any land within the Order limits, make openings into, and connections with, the watercourse, public sewer or drain.
(2) Any dispute arising from the making of connections to or the use of a public sewer or drain by the undertaker pursuant to paragraph (1) is determined as if it were a dispute under section 106 of the Water Industry Act 1991(1) (right to communicate with public sewers).
(3) The undertaker must not discharge any water into any watercourse or public sewer drain, except with the consent of the person to whom it belongs; and such consent may be given subject to such terms and conditions as that person may reasonably impose, but must not be unreasonably withheld.
(4) The undertaker must not carry out any works to any public sewer or drain pursuant to article 15(1) except—
(a)in accordance with plans approved by the person to whom the sewer or drain belongs, but such approval must not be unreasonably withheld; and
(b)where that person has been given the opportunity to supervise the making of the opening.
(5) The undertaker must not, in carrying out or maintaining works pursuant to this article damage or interfere with the bed or banks of any watercourse forming part of a main river as defined under section 113(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991.
(6) The undertaker must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that any water discharged into a watercourse or public sewer or drain pursuant to this article is as free as may be practicable from gravel, soil or other solid substance, oil or matter in suspension.
(7) This article does not authorise any water discharge or groundwater activity for which an environmental permit is required by regulation 12 (requirement for an environmental permit) of the 2016 Regulations.
(8) In this article—
(a)“public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which either belongs to a sewerage undertaker, the Environment Agency, an internal drainage board or a local authority or one which such body has permissive rights over; and
(b)other expressions, excluding watercourse, used both in this article and in the 2016 Regulations have the same meaning as in those Regulations.
(9) If a person who receives an application for consent or approval fails to notify the undertaker of a decision within 56 days of receiving an application for consent under paragraph (3) or approval under paragraph (4)(a) that person is deemed to have granted consent or given approval, as the case may be.
Commencement Information
I1Art. 15 in force at 3.8.2023, see art. 1
1991 c. 56. Section 106 was amended by sections 35(8)(a) and 43(2) of and paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Competition and Service (Utilities) Act 1992 (c. 43) and sections 36(2) and 99(2), (4), (5)(a), (5)(b), (5)(c) of the Water Act 2003 (c. 37) and section 32, and paragraph 16(1) of and Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (c. 29).