Part 5 – Amendments to the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006
Section 19: Enforcement authorities
Section 19 makes various amendments to the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (“the 2006 Order”) which transfer responsibility for water quality enforcement action functions and duties in respect of the public supply from DRD to DOE and allows DOE to gain premises entry and access rights for the purposes of water contamination investigation of private and public water supplies.
Section 20: Regulations relating to wholesomeness of water
Section 20 makes various amendments to the 2006 Order which transfer sole power from DRD to DOE for making regulations which set out the standards and requirements which must be met for water to be considered wholesome and the responsibilities of a water undertaker with regard to fulfilling its duties to provide wholesome water.
Section 21: Appointment and powers of inspectors
Section 21 makes various amendments to the 2006 Order which transfer sole power from DRD to DOE to appoint officers to act on its behalf for the purposes of enforcing the relevant legislation relating to water quality of both private and public water supplies.
Section 22: Publication of certain information and advice
Section 22 amends the 2006 Order to provide DOE with the powers to publish information in respect of its functions relating to both public and private water supplies.
Section 23: Transitional provisions
Section 23 inserts a new Article 302A into the 2006 Order which sets out transitional provisions to ensure that there is no effect on, or alteration to, previous actions and regulations made by ‘the Department’, i.e. DRD, under the powers and functions of the 2006 Order which are now transferred fully to DOE by this Act.
