Water Act 1958
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Water Act , 1958
(6 & 7 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 67
An Act to confer powers to meet deficiencies in the supply of water due to exceptional shortage of rain and to revoke, with savings, Deference Regulations 50A and 56.
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:—
1 Obtaining supplies to meet drought.
(1) If the Minister is satisfied that by reason of an exceptional shortage of rain a serious deficiency of supplies of water in any locality exists or is threatened, he may, subject to the provisions of this section, on the application of any statutory water undertakers who supply water in that locality, make an order containing such provisions for any of the following purposes as appear to him to be expedient with a view to meeting the deficiency, that is to say—
(a ) for authorising the undertakers, subject to any specified conditions or restrictions, to take water from any specified source for a period not exceeding six months, or
(b ) for suspending or modifying, subject to any specified conditions, and for a period not exceeding six months, any restriction or obligation to which the undertakers are subject as respects—
(i) the taking of water from any source,
(ii) the discharge of compensation water, or
(iii) the filtration or other treatment of water,
and the Minister may include in the order such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions as appear to him to be expedient for those purposes.
Before any statutory water undertakers make an application under this section they shall consult with any river board upon whom notice of the application will be required to be served by the First Schedule to this Act.
(2) In an order made under paragraph (a ) of the foregoing subsection for authorising the taking of water from a source from which water is supplied to an inland navigation, or in an order made under paragraph (b ) of the foregoing subsection—
(a ) for suspending or modifying a restriction as respects the taking of water from a source from which water is supplied to an inland navigation, or
(b ) for suspending or modifying an obligation to discharge compensation water into a canal or into any river or stream which forms part of, or from which water is supplied to, an inland navigation,
the Minister may include provisions for prohibiting or imposing limitations on the taking of water from the inland navigation or for the suspension or modification of any obligation to which the navigation authority are subject as respects the discharge of water from the inland navigation.
(3) An order under this section may authorise undertakers, subject to any specified conditions and restrictions, to execute any works required for the discharge of their functions under the order and—
(a ) may authorise the undertakers for that purpose to enter upon any specified land and to occupy and use the land to such extent and in such manner as may be requisite for the execution and maintenance of the works, and
(b ) may authorise the undertakers to borrow temporarily any money required to defray the cost of carrying out the works, and
(c ) may apply in relation to the execution of the works such of the provisions contained in the Third Schedule to the Water Act, 1945 (which include in particular provisions relating to the laying of mains and the breaking open of streets), as appear to the Minister to be appropriate, subject to such modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the order.
(4) In an order which authorises undertakers to enter on land the Minister shall include provisions requiring the undertakers to give to the occupier of the land, and to such other persons concerned with the land as may be specified in the order, not less than seven days' notice of their intended entry on the land.
(5) In the exercise of his power to make orders under this section the Minister shall have regard to the interests of all persons concerned in the conservation or use of the water to which the order relates.
(6) An order under this section shall not authorise the doing of anything contrary to the provisions of section one hundred and sixty-two of the Thames Conservancy Act, 1932 (which empowers the Metropolitan Water Board to abstract water from the Thames subject to the conditions set out in the section).
(7) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the procedure to be followed in connection with the making of orders under the preceding provisions of this section, and the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the payment of compensation to persons affected by orders so made.
(8) The Minister may by order revoke any order made by him under this section.
(9) If statutory water undertakers—
(a ) take water from a source in contravention of a restriction contained in an order under this section or fail to comply with the requirements of an order under this section as to the discharge of compensation water, or
(b ) fail to construct or maintain in good order a gauge, weir or other apparatus for measuring the flow of water which they were required to construct or maintain by an order under this section, or fail to allow some person authorised in that behalf by any such order to inspect and examine any such apparatus or any records made thereby or kept by the undertakers in connection therewith or to take copies of any such records,
they shall, without prejudice to their civil liability, if any, to a person aggrieved, be liable—
(i) on summary conviction of an offence under paragraph (a ) or paragraph (b ) of this subsection, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds; and
(ii) on conviction on indictment of an offence under paragraph (a ) of this subsection, to a fine.
(10) In the application of this section to Scotland, for any reference to the Third Schedule to the Water Act, 1945, there shall be substituted a reference to sections twenty-six and twenty-seven of, and the Third and Fourth Schedules to, the Water (Scotland) Act, 1946.
2 Supplying water by temporary means during a drought.
(1) If the Minister is satisfied that by reason of an exceptional shortage of rain a serious deficiency of supplies of water in any locality exists or is threatened, he may, on the application of any statutory water undertakers who supply water in that locality, make an order containing such provisions for any of the following purposes as appear to him to be expedient with a view to meeting the deficiency, that is to say—
(a ) for authorising the undertakers for a period not exceeding six months to supply water in any area within their limits of supply by means of stand-pipes or water tanks, and to erect or set up and maintain stand-pipes or water tanks in any street in that area,
(b ) for confirming any right to raise, charge and levy any water rate or minimum charge which might have been raised, charged and levied if there had been no interruption or diminution of the supply of water and for suspending or modifying any enactment or agreement so far as it relates to a failure to make normal supplies of water available in an area where water is being supplied by means of stand-pipes or water tanks, and
(c ) for applying in relation to any works to be carried out under the order such of the provisions contained in the Third Schedule to the Water Act, 1945, as appear to the Minister to be appropriate, subject to such modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the order.
(2) Any works to be carried out in the course of erecting or setting up stand-pipes or water tanks under this section shall be included in the definition of emergency works in subsection (1) of section thirty-nine of the Public Utilities Street Works Act, 1950.
(3) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the procedure to be followed in connection with the making of orders under the preceding provisions of this section.
(4) The Minister may by order revoke any order made by him under this section.
(5) In the application of this section to Scotland, for any reference to the Third Schedule to the Water Act, 1945, there shall be substituted a reference to sections twenty-six and twenty-seven of, and the Third and Fourth Schedules to, the Water (Scotland) Act, 1946.
3 Revocation of Defence Regulation 50A and 56.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, Regulations 50A and 56 of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939 (which respectively authorise the taking of water from any source and permit the making of higher or additional charges and other relaxations of statutory obligations or limitations on public utility undertakings) are hereby revoked.
(2) Any order under either of the said Regulations which is in force immediately before the coming into operation of this section shall, unless previously revoked by an order of the Minister under this section, continue to apply as if the Regulation had until the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and sixty, continued in force, and the provisions of Regulation 50A concerning compensation shall continue to apply in relation to any order under that Regulation.
(3) This section shall not affect any order under Regulation 56 so far as it...
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