Water (Scotland) Act 1980
Water (Scotland) Act 1980
1980 CHAPTER 45
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to water in Scotland.
[1st August 1980]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Central Authority
1 Duty of Secretary of State.
1. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State—
2 Power to require surveys and formulation of proposals.
(1) The Secretary of State may require any water authority or water development board to—
(a ) carry out a survey of the existing consumption of and demand for water supplies in their area and of the water resources in or available for that area;
(b ) prepare an estimate of the future water supply requirements of that area;
(c ) formulate proposals for meeting the existing or future water supply requirements of that area, including proposals for the joint use with any other water authority or water development board of any existing or proposed new source of water supply;
(d ) submit a report on any of those matters to the Secretary of State within such time as he may specify.
(2) For the purposes of this section ‘area’, in relation to a water authority, means their limits of supply within the meaning of section 3(3).
Part II
Duties of Water Authorities
3 Water authorities.
(1) Subject to subsection (2), the water authority for any area shall be the regional or islands council for that area.
(2) For any area specified in column 1 of the following table the water authority shall be the regional council specified in relation to that area in column 2 of that table.
Table
| Area | Regional council to whose limits of supply the area in column 1 is added. |
| 1 | 2 |
The whole of the former county of Kinross. |
Fife |
That part of the former counties of Stirling and Dunbarton which on 16th May 1975 lay within both the Strathclyde Region and the region of the former Mid-Scotland Water Board. |
Central |
That part of the Stirling District and the Central Region situated at Craigmaddie Loch which on 1st April 1977 was transferred to the Strathkelvin District and the Strathclyde Region. |
Central |
(3) The area within which a water authority are to exercise their functions shall comprise the limits of supply of that authority.
(4) Notwithstanding section 57 (appointment of committees) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , where—
(a ) a water authority have arranged under section 56 (discharge of functions) of the said Act of 1973 for the discharge of their functions relating to water by a committee, and
(b ) the limits of supply of that authority include an added area,
then the members of that committee shall be appointed both by that authority and by the other water authority; and the number of such members to be appointed by each of those authorities shall be such number as may be agreed between them or in default of agreement as the Secretary of State may by order specify.
(5) A member of such a committee who represents the other water authority shall not be entitled to exercise a deliberative vote or to submit a motion or, except with the leave of the committee, to take part in a discussion except in respect of a matter relating solely or, in the opinion of the person presiding at the meeting of the committee, mainly to the exercise of any of the functions of the water authority of whose committee he is a member.
(6) Where the limits of supply of a water authority include an added area but the authority propose to make an arrangement for the discharge of their functions relating to water other than such an arrangement as is referred to in subsection (4)(a ), then the proposed arrangement shall require the consent of the Secretary of State, who shall not give such consent unless he is satisfied that the interests of the other water authority will be adequately safeguarded by the proposed arrangement.
(7) In this section—
‘added area’ means an area specified in column 1 of the table set out at the end of subsection (2) or in that column as amended or extended by an order under section 4;
‘the other water authority’ means the authority in whose region the added area is situated.
4 Alteration of limits of supply.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Secretary of State may at any time by order alter the limits of supply of a water authority.
(2) Any order under this section may include such transitional, incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as the Secretary of State may consider necessary or expedient for the purposes of the order.
(3) The provisions of Schedule 7 shall have effect in relation to the making of an order under this section.
5 Maps of limits of supply.
(1) The Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable after the coming into force of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , send to any water authority whose limits of supply include an area specified in column 1 of the table set out in section 3(2) and to any water authority whose limits of supply would include such an area but for the said section 3(2), a map of that area, and shall, as soon as practicable after an order under section 4 relating to the limits of supply of a water authority comes into operation, send to that authority a map of the limits of supply of that authority as altered or, as the case may be, designated by the order.
(2) Any map sent to a water authority under section 6 of the Water (Scotland) Act 1967 or under this section, except a map which has been superseded by a subsequent map so sent, shall be kept at the principal office of the authority; and the authority shall provide reasonable facilities for the inspection of the map by any person wishing to inspect it, and for the taking of copies of, and extracts from, the map.
(3) Any map to which subsection (2) applies shall be taken to be a document within the meaning of the Documentary Evidence Act 1868 , as applied to the Secretary of State for Scotland.
6 Duty of authority to provide supply.
(1) It shall be the duty of every water authority to provide a supply of wholesome water to every part of their limits of supply where a supply of water is required for domestic purposes and can be provided at a reasonable cost.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), every water authority shall provide a supply of wholesome water in pipes to every part of their limits of supply where a supply of water is required for domestic purposes and shall take the pipes affording that supply to such point or points as will enable the buildings for which a supply is required for domestic purposes to be connected thereto at a reasonable cost; but this subsection shall not require a water authority to do anything which is not practicable at a reasonable cost or to provide such a supply to any part of their limits of supply where such a supply is already available at such point or points.
(3) If any question arises under this section as to—
(a ) whether a supply of water can be provided at a reasonable cost, or
(b ) whether anything is or is not practicable at a reasonable cost, or
(c ) the point or points to which pipes must be taken in order to enable buildings to be connected therewith at a reasonable cost,
the Secretary of State, if requested to do so by 10 or more local government electors in the limits of supply of the water authority, shall, after consulting the authority, determine that question and the authority shall give effect to his determination.
(4) Every water authority shall also provide a supply of water for the purpose of complying with any other obligation imposed on them by this Act and may, if they think fit, provide a supply to enable them to exercise any of the powers conferred on them by this Act or for any other purpose which they consider is in the interests of the area comprising their limits of supply.
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