Water Act 1945

59 Interpretation.

(1) In this Act the following expressions shall, subject to any express provision or anything in the context to the contrary, have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—

• " catchment board " and " catchment area, " in relation to such a board, have the same meanings as in the [20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 44.] Land Drainage Act, 1930;

• " clerk ", in relation to a local authority being the council of a borough, means the town clerk;

• " contravention " includes failure to comply, and " contravene " shall be construed accordingly;

• " county district " means a non-county borough, urban district or rural district;

• " cut off, " in relation to a supply of water, means stop the supply, whether by operating a tap, by disconnecting pipes, or otherwise;

• " district, " in relation to the council of a borough, means that borough and, in relation to the Common Council of the City of London, means the City of London;

• " enactment " means any Act of Parliament, whether public general, local or private, any statutory order, or any provision in an Act of Parliament or statutory order;

• " fishery board " and " fishery district " have the same meanings as in the [13 & 14 Geo. 5. c. 16.] Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act, 1923;

• " joint water board " means any joint board of local authorities constituted under section six of the Public Health Act, 1936, or any enactment repealed by that Act, or under any local enactment, for the purpose of discharging functions relating to water supply, and any joint board of local authorities constituted under section nine of this Act;

• " land " includes any interest in land and any easement or right in, to or over land;

• " limits of supply ", in relation to any water undertaking, means the limits within which the undertakers are for the time being authorised to supply water, so, however, that when used in relation to undertakers expressed to be supplying water under a local enactment, it means the limits within which they are authorised to supply water under such an enactment;

• " local authority " means the council of a county, county borough or county district, the Common Council of the City of London or the council of a metropolitan borough;

• " local enactment " means any local Act of Parliament, any public general Act of Parliament relating to the supply of water in London, any statutory order or any provision in any such Act of Parliament or statutory order;

• " Minister " means Minister of Health;

• " navigation authority " means any person or body of persons, whether incorporated or not, having powers under an enactment to work, maintain, conserve, improve or control any canal or other inland navigation, navigable river, estuary, harbour or dock;

• " owner " means, except in the Second Schedule to this Act, the person for the time being receiving the rack-rent of the premises in connection with which the word is used, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person, or who would so receive the same if those premises were let at a rackrent;

• " premises " includes land;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

• " railway company " means any persons authorised by an enactment to construct, work or carry on a railway, and includes the London Passenger Transport Board;

• " rivers board " means a joint committee, board or other body constituted under subsection (3) of section fourteen of the [51 & 52 Vict. c. 41.] Local Government Act, 1888, or by or under a local Act, for the purpose of exercising powers of a sanitary authority under the [39 & 40 Vict. c. 75.] Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876;

• " statutory order " means an order or scheme made under an Act of Parliament, including an order or scheme confirmed by Parliament;

• " statutory water undertakers " means any company, local authority, board, committee, or other person supplying water under an enactment, and also includes, for the purposes of Part II of this Act only, any local authority authorised to supply water by the Public Health Act, 1936, but not actually supplying water under that Act, but the said expression does not include a railway company or navigation authority having statutory power to sell surplus water or any body or person supplying water solely for the purpose of producing motive power by hydraulic pressure;

• " street " includes any highway, including a highway over any bridge, and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not;

• " supply of water in bulk " means a supply of water for distribution by the undertakers taking the supply;

• " watercourse " includes all rivers, streams, ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices, sewers (other than sewers vested in a local authority or a joint board of local authorities) and passages, through which water flows;

• " water fittings " includes pipes (other than mains), taps, cocks, valves, ferrules, meters, cisterns, baths, water-closets, soil-pans and other similar apparatus used in connection with the supply and use of water.

(2) References in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as including references to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment including this Act.

(3) This section shall not apply for the purposes of the Third Schedule to this Act.