Resource information
The Water Act 1989 sanctioned a major shift in the policy of the government towards severing the public utility function from the comprehensive scope of water management authority of the Regional Water Authorities operating in England and Wales, and entrusting it with limited public companies. The regulatory functions hitherto vested in the said authorities, augmented by the addition of regulatory functions with respect to navigation, river conservancy and harbours are vested in a National Rivers Authority. As a result, the ten Regional Water Authorities which had come into being by virtue of the 1973 Water Act will be phased out. The new institutional set-up for the management of water resources in England and Wales is complemented by Regional Rivers Advisory Committees to be established by the National Rivers Authority in an advisory capacity to it. A separate committee for Wales is to be set up by the Secretary of State with respect to that particular region. (Part I, secs. 1 to 4). In addition, local flood defence committees are to carry out land drainage and flood defence functions under the supervision of the National Rivers Authority (sects. 136-137). Local and regional fisheries committees can be set up by the Authority, with advisory functions (sect. 141).Part II of the Act, sections 11 to 102 makes detailed provisions for the organization and functioning of the new water and sewerage utility companies, and for the provision of relevant services. Part III, sections 103 to 150, contains substantive provisions on pollution control, drought management, flood defence, inland fisheries, and navigation, conservancy and harbours. With respect to pollution control, the core of water pollution controls continue to rest on a consent system for regulating discharges of effluents into waters based on ambient quality objectives. However, the 1989 statute tightens this system by granting government power to establish statutory - as opposed to purely administrative - water quality objectives relating to different classes of waters, including a target date for meeting the objectives. In addition, these statutory water quality objectives must now be placed in the already existing waste discharge consents registers alongside consent details and sampling results, thus providing the public with a transparent link beween the regulator's goals and actual performance. The new statute also makes provision for the control of diffuse pollution. In addition to empowering the Secretay of State for the Environment to designate Water Protection Zones where specified activities may be restricted or prohibited, the Act also empowers the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to designate Nitrate Sensitive Areas.With regard to these areas, the statute provides no more than a broad framework that gives government maximum administrative flexibility to deal with the pollution problems of a particular designated area. In particular, the designating authority may provide for compensation of farmers who incur financial losses due to their new obligation within a designated area. Under Part V of the Act, the bulk of the pollution control provisions have been extended to Scotland. The balance of the Act, consisting of Parts IV, V and VI - sections 151 to 194 - deal respectively with general powers in relation to land and works, provisions relating to Scotland, and miscellaneous matters. The statute is complemented by 27 Schedules.
Implemented by: Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989 (S.I. No. 1147 of 1989). (1989-07-06)
Implemented by: Nitrate Sensitive Areas (Designation) (Amendment) Order 1990. (1990-06-06)
Implemented by: Nitrate Sensitive Areas (Designation) Order, 1990. (1990-06-01)
Implemented by: Yorkshire Water and York Waterworks (Amendment of Local Enactments Etc.) Order 2000 (S.I. No. 1031 of 2000). (2000-03-28)
Implemented by: Scotland Act 1998 (Border Rivers) Order 1999 (S.I. No. 1746 of 2000). (2000-06-22)
Implemented by: Northumbrian Water and Essex and Suffolk Water (Amendment of Local Enactments, etc.) Order 2000 (S.I. No. 969 of 2000). (2000-03-23)
Amended by: Environmental Protection Act 1990 (Chapter 43). (1990-11-01)
Amended by: Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 (2003 Asp 15). (2003-05-01)
Amended by: Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (S.S.I. No. 85 of 2009). (2009-03-05)
Amended by: Aquatic Animal Health (England and Wales) Regulations 2009 (S.I. No. 463 of 2009). (2009-03-03)
Amended by: Water Act 2003 (Chapter 37). (2003-11-20)
Amended by: Water Act 2014 (Chapter 21). (2014-05-14)
Amended by: Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (c. 60). (1991-07-25)
Amended by: Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (Cap. 23). (2009-12-11)
Amended by: Water Act 2014 (Consequential Amendments etc.) Order 2017 (S.I. No. 506 of 2018). (2017-03-03)
Amends: Water Act, 1973. (1973-07-18)
