Article 22 Discharge of waterI1
England and Wales
Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the undertaker may use any watercourse or any public sewer or drain for the drainage of water in connection with the carrying out or maintenance of the authorised development and for that purpose may lay down, take up and alter pipes and may, on any land within the Order limits, make openings into, and connections with, the watercourse, public sewer or drain.
Any dispute arising from the making of connections to or the use of a public sewer or drain by the undertaker under paragraph (1) is to be determined as if it were a dispute under section 106 (right to communicate with public sewers) of the Water Industry Act 1991f1.
The undertaker must not discharge any water into any watercourse, public sewer or drain except with the consent of the person to whom it belongs; and such consent may be given subject to such terms and conditions as that person may reasonably impose, but must not be unreasonably withheld.
The undertaker must not make any opening into any public sewer or drain except—
in accordance with plans approved by the person to whom the sewer or drain belongs, but such approval must not be unreasonably withheld; and
where that person has been given the opportunity to supervise the making of the opening.
Article 53 (deemed consent) applies to an application for consent under paragraph (3) or approval under paragraph (4)(a) and “the authority” in article 53 must in this case refer to the person to whom the watercourse, sewer or drain belongs.
The undertaker must not, in carrying out or maintaining works under this article, damage or interfere with the bed or banks of any watercourse forming part of a main river other than in accordance with a consent granted by the Environment Agency.
The undertaker must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that any water discharged into a watercourse or public sewer or drain pursuant to this article is free from gravel, soil or other solid substance, oil or matter in suspension or solution.
This article does not authorise a groundwater activity or water discharge activity for which an environmental permit would be required under regulation 12(1)(b) (requirement for an environmental permit) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016f2.
In this article—
“public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which belongs to Homes England, the Environment Agency, an internal drainage board, a joint planning board, a local authority, a sewerage undertaker or an urban development corporation;
other expressions, excluding watercourse, used both in this article and in the Water Resources Act 1991f3 have the same meaning as in that Act; and
“main river” means watercourses as defined under section 113(1)f4 (interpretation of Part 4) of the Water Resources Act 1991 and shown as such on the statutory main river maps held by the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The Environment Agency is deemed to have granted consent under paragraph (3) where the watercourse, public sewer or drain belongs to the Environment Agency and an environmental permit under regulation 12(1)(b) (requirement for an environmental permit) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 has been granted in respect of the discharge.
A sewerage undertaker is deemed to have granted consent to the discharge of trade effluent into a public sewer under paragraph (3) where the public sewer belongs to the sewerage undertaker and consent under section 118 (consent required for discharge of trade effluent into public sewer) of the Water Industry Act 1991 has been granted in respect of the discharge.
Annotations
Commencement
- I1
Art. 22 in force at 12.10.2025, see art. 1
Footnotes
- f1
1991 c. 56. Section 106 was amended by sections 35(1) and (8) and 43(2) of, and Schedule 2 to, the Competition and Service (Utilities) Act 1992 (c. 43), sections 36(2) and 99 of the Water Act 2003 (c. 37) and section 49 of, and paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 3 to, the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (c. 29).
- f2
- f3
- f4
The definition of “main river” was amended by section 59(3) of the Water Act 2014 (c. 21).