Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order is consequential upon the Water Act 1989. It substitutes for references in local statutory provisions to water authorities, references to the relevant water undertaker or sewerage undertaker, as the case may be, where the provision in question relates to functions, property, rights or liabilities which are transferred to the undertaker by or under the 1989 Act (article 3(1)). Where functions, property, rights or liabilities are transferred to the National Rivers Authority, references in local statutory provisions to water authorities are replaced by references to that Authority (article 3(2)).
Article 4 of the Order amends the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988 by substituting for references to the Anglian Water Authority and the East Anglian Water Company references to the National Rivers Authority and to those water undertakers whose area includes part of the Broads (the successor company to the Anglian Water Authority and the East Anglian Water Company). Article 4(b) extends the definition of “statutory undertaker” in section 25 of the 1988 Act to those water undertakers and to the sewerage undertakers whose areas include part of the Broads.
As a consequence of article 4–
the National Rivers Authority is able to appoint one member to the Broads Authority;
the Broads Authority is required to consult the National Rivers Authority before preparing a code of practice for the construction, alteration, renewal, maintenance or extension of drainage works within the Broads; and also before issuing a revised code;
the Broads Authority is required to consult the National Rivers Authority and such of the water undertakers with whom consultation appears appropriate before exercising its powers to carry out works or make grants or loans for the purpose of improving the quality of the water in any inland waters partly or wholly within the Broads;
the National Rivers Authority and the water undertakers are required to consult the Broads Authority before implementing any proposal which is likely to affect the quality of water in the inland waters referred to above;
the National Rivers Authority is required to send to the Broads Authority a copy of every application made to it for consent to discharge effluent and other substances;
the Broads Authority is required to send to the National Rivers Authority a copy of the notice which it is required to publish when it proposes temporarily to regulate, restrict or prohibit the use of any waterway within the navigation area (the area referred to in section 8(1) of the 1988 Act); and
the Broads Authority is required to send to the National Rivers Authority a copy of the notice which it is required to publish when it proposes to close to navigation any area at the edge of any waterway within the navigation area or to restrict navigation in any such area to specified classes of vessel.
Article 5 amends the Clywedog Reservoir Joint Authority Act 1963. The effect of the amendment is to impose on the successor company to the Severn-Trent Water Authority the duty to make a daily discharge of not less than four million gallons into the afon (river) Clywedog; and to impose on the National Rivers Authority the duty to make such additional discharges as are necessary to ensure that the rate of flow in the river at Bewdley gauge is not less than 160 million gallons per day. The effect of the amendment is also to impose on the successor company and on the National Rivers Authority criminal liability for breaches of their respective duties.