Wychavon District Council v National Rivers Authority
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 31 July 1992 |
| Date | 31 July 1992 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Queen's Bench Divisional Court
Before Lord Justice Watkins and Lord Justice McCowan
Environment - pollution - whether "caused" by local authority's failure to act
A local authority could not be said to have "caused" pollution by failing promptly to discover the source of discharge of sewage effluent into the River Avon once it had occurred and thereafter by failing to clear a blockage in the sewer as soon as possible.
The Queen's Bench Divisional Court so held in a reserved judgment in allowing an appeal by way of case stated by Wychavon District Council against its conviction by Pershore Justices on October 11, 1990 of causing sewage effluent to be discharged contrary to section 107(1)(c) of the Water Act 1989.
Mr James Tillyard for the council; Mr Roger D H Smith, QC, for the National Rivers Authority.
LORD JUSTICE WATKINS said that on June 1, 1990 informations were preferred by the National Rivers Authority against the council alleging that on March 11, 1990 at a storm overflow outfall adjacent to Evesham Hospital, the council caused sewage effluent to enter the River Avon contrary to section 107(1)(c) of the 1989 Act and further that on March 12, 1990 at the same place the council caused similar effluent to enter the River Avon contrary to section 107(1)(c).
The council had the sewerage agency for the Severn Trent Water Authority, the statutory sewerage undertaker. Thus it carried out on behalf of the sewerage undertaker the operation, maintenance and repair of sewers as well as undertaking some of the detailed design of new sewers. It accepted that it had the day-to-day responsibility for the sewage system.
The management of the system had to be within a restricted financial budget set by Severn Trent Water Authority. The council, as its agent, carried out remedial repairs up to a maximum of £15,000 without recourse to them.
An analysis of the contents of the samples referred to showed that they contained raw sewage. That evidence was not disputed.
The sewer in question had been designed and constructed according to usual practice and had no history of problems. It was unaltered from its original state and of common design. The explanation given by the council's engineer was that the blockage could have well been caused by solid material emanating from the nearby hospital's link.
The justices were of the opinion that the council was the agent for Severn Trent...
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Empress Car Company (Abertillery) Ltd v National Rivers Authority
...and found its way into the stream by gravity "with no act on his part whatever:" see p. 994. The other case is Wychavon District Council v. National Rivers Authority [1993] 1 W.L.R. 125. The council maintained the sewage system in its district as agent for the statutory authority, the Sever......