Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act 1930
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1930 c. 51 |
| Year | 1930 |
Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act, 1930.
(20 & 21 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 51.
An Act to impose, in the interests of safety, precautions to be observed in the construction, alteration, and use of reservoirs, and to amend the law with respect to liability for damage and injury caused by the escape of water from reservoirs.
[1st August 1930]
B E it enacted by the King'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:—
1 Precautions to be observed in the construction of large reservoirs.
(1) After the commencement of this Act a large reservoir shall not be constructed unless a qualified civil engineer within the meaning of this Act is employed to design and supervise the construction thereof.
(2) As soon as the engineer so employed as aforesaid considers that the construction has reached a stage at which the reservoir can properly be filled wholly or partially with water, he shall give a certificate (hereinafter referred to as the ‘preliminary certificate’) specifying the level up to which the reservoir may be filled and the conditions (if any) subject to which it may be so filled.
Any such preliminary certificate may from time to time be varied by the said engineer either by specifying a higher or lower level or by imposing conditions subject to which the reservoir may be filled or altering any conditions already imposed.
(3) If, after the issue of a preliminary certificate, the said engineer is satisfied that the reservoir is sound and satisfactory and may safely be used for the storage of water, he shall give a certificate (hereinafter referred to as the ‘final certificate’) to that effect, and the final certificate shall specify the level up to which water may be stored and the conditions (if any) subject to which it may be so stored:
Provided that the said engineer shall not issue a final certificate specifying as the level up to which water may be stored a level lower than the top water level unless either the undertakers consent or more than three years have elapsed since the issue of the preliminary certificate.
(4) No such reservoir shall be filled with water either wholly or partially or used for the storage of water—
(a ) before the issue of a preliminary certificate;
(b ) in the interval between the issue of a preliminary certificate and the final certificate, otherwise than in accordance with the preliminary certificate or such variations thereof as may from time to time be in force;
(c ) after the issue of the final certificate, otherwise than in accordance with that certificate.
(5) The said engineer shall also, at the time when he gives the final certificate or at such earlier date after the completion of the works as may be practicable, furnish detailed drawings and descriptions of the works actually constructed and shall certify that the works have been efficiently executed in accordance with those drawings and descriptions.
The drawings and descriptions shall be annexed to and shall be deemed to form part of the certificate so given, and shall contain full information regarding the works actually constructed, including dimensions and levels and details of the geological strata or deposits encountered in trial holes or excavations made in connection with the works.
(6) Every certificate given under this section shall be in the prescribed form and shall be delivered to and kept by the undertakers.
(7) For the purposes of this section the expression ‘top water level’ in relation to any reservoir means the highest level up to which the reservoir was designed to be used for the storage of water.
(8) Where at the commencement of this Act a large reservoir is in the course of construction—
(a ) in a case where the reservoir has not at the commencement of this Act been filled wholly or partially with water, the provisions of this section, other than subsection (1) thereof, shall apply in relation to the reservoir;
(b ) in a case where the reservoir has at the commencement of this Act been filled wholly or partially with water, the engineer employed to design and supervise the construction thereof shall, as soon as practicable after the commencement of this Act, give a certificate specifying the level up to which the reservoir may be filled and the conditions (if any) subject to which it may be so filled, and that certificate shall have effect for the purposes of this section as a preliminary certificate, and the provisions of this section, other than subsection (1) and paragraph (a ) of subsection (4) thereof, shall apply in relation to the reservoir accordingly;
(c ) in either case, the certificates required under this section may be given by the engineer responsible for supervising the construction of the reservoir notwithstanding that he is not a qualified civil engineer within the meaning of this Act.
2 Periodical inspection of large reservoirs.
(1) It shall be the duty of the undertakers to cause a periodical inspection, and a report of the result thereof, to be made in accordance with the provisions of this section in respect of any large reservoir, whether constructed before or after the commencement of this Act, in which water is stored.
(2) The first inspection shall be made—
(a ) in the case of a reservoir constructed before the commencement of this Act, or of a reservoir in course of construction at the commencement of this Act, within three years from the commencement of this Act;
(b ) in the ease of a reservoir constructed after the commencement of this Act, at the expiration of a period not exceeding ten years from the date of the preliminary certificate given in relation to the reservoir under the last foregoing section:
Provided that, if in the case of a reservoir in course of construction at the commencement of this Act the engineer responsible for supervising the construction of the reservoir becomes a qualified civil engineer within the meaning of this Act, this subsection shall apply as if the reservoir had been constructed after the commencement of this Act.
(3) Subsequent inspections shall be made at intervals of not more than ten years:
Provided that, if the report of the result of any inspection made under this section contains a recommendation that the next inspection should be made within a period of less than ten years, the interval in such case shall not exceed the period stated in the report.
(4) Where any alterations to a large reservoir are carried out, being alterations which do not increase the capacity of the reservoir but are such as might affect the safety of the reservoir, then, unless a qualified civil engineer within the meaning...
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