Reservoirs Act 1975

7 Certficates of construction engineers

(1) As soon as the construction engineer responsible for any reservoir or addition to a reservoir considers that the construction of the reservoir or addition has reached a stage at which the reservoir or addition can properly be filled wholly or partially with water, he shall give a certificate (" the preliminary certificate ") specifying the level up to which it may be filled and the conditions (if any) subject to which it may be so filled; and the construction engineer may from time to time supersede a preliminary certificate by the issue of a further preliminary certificate varying the previous certificate, whether as to water level or as to conditions.

(2) Where the construction engineer responsible for an addition to a large raised reservoir considers at any time during the carrying out of the alteration to the reservoir that the reservoir ought not to be filled with water up to the level or subject to the conditions that would be lawful apart from this subsection, he may give a certificate (" an interim certificate ") specifying the level up to which it may be filled until the issue of a preliminary certificate, and the conditions (if any) subject to which it may be so filled; and the construction engineer may from time to time supersede an interim certificate by the issue of a further interim certificate varying the previous certificate, whether as to water level or as to conditions.

(3) If, at the end of three years after a preliminary certificate is first issued tor a reservoir or addition to a reservoir or at any time thereafter, the construction engineer is satisfied that the reservoir or, as the case may be, the reservoir with the addition is sound and satisfactory and may safely be used for the storage of water, he shall give a certificate (" the final certificate ") to that effect, and the final certificate shall specify the level up to which water may be stored and the conditions (if any) subject to which it may be so stored.

(4) If at the end of five years after a preliminary certificate is first issued for a reservoir or addition to a reservoir the construction engineer has not issued his final certificate, he shall give the undertakers a written explanation of his reasons for deferring the issue of the final certificate.

(5) The construction engineer giving a final certificate for a reservoir shall consider the matters (if any) that need to be watched by a supervising engineer during the period before there is an inspection of the reservoir under this Act, and shall include in an annex to the certificate a note of any such matters.

(6) The construction engineer for any reservoir or addition to a reservoir shall also, as soon as practicable after the completion of the works and in any event not later than the giving of the final certificate, give a certificate that the works have been efficiently executed in accordance with the drawings and descriptions annexed to the certificate, and shall annex to the certificate detailed drawings and descriptions giving full information of the works actually constructed, including dimensions and levels and details of the geological strata or deposits encountered in trial holes or excavations made in connection with the works.

(7) References in this Act to a final certificate or to a certificate under subsection (6) above include the annex to the certificate, where there is one.