Water Act 1989

5 E+W For sections 46 to 51 there shall be substituted the following sections—

“ Miscellaneous E+W

46 Operations by river purification authorities to remedy or forestall pollution of water.

(1) Where it appears to a river purification authority that any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter or any solid waste matter is likely to enter, or is or was present in, any controlled waters in its area, the authority may carry out in its area or elsewhere such operations as it considers appropriate—

(a) in a case where the matter appears likely to enter such waters, for the purpose of preventing it from doing so; and

(b) in a case where the matter appears to be or to have been present in such waters, for the purpose of removing or disposing of the matter or of remedying or mitigating any pollution caused by its presence in the waters or of restoring the waters (including the fauna and flora dependent on the aquatic environment of the waters), so far as it is reasonably practicable to do so, to the state in which they were immediately before the matter became present in the waters;

but nothing in this subsection empowers a river purification authority to impede or prevent the making of any discharge in pursuance of a consent given by any authority by virtue of section 34 of this Act.

(2) Where a river purification authority carries out any operations in pursuance of this section the authority shall, subject to the following subsection, be entitled to recover the costs of doing so from any persons who caused or knowingly permitted the matter in question to be present at the place from which it was likely in the opinion of the authority to enter the controlled waters or, as the case may be, to be present in the controlled waters.

(3) No such costs shall be payable by a person—

(a) in so far as he satisfies the court in which it is sought to recover the costs that the costs were incurred unnecessarily; or

(b) for any operations in respect of water from an abandoned mine which that person permitted to reach such a place as is mentioned in the preceding subsection or to enter the controlled waters.

(4) In determining the damage which a person has suffered in consequence of pollution in respect of which operations have been or may be carried out in pursuance of this section, account shall be taken of the extent to which it is shown that the damage has been reduced by operations in pursuance of this section and of the extent to which it is shown that the damage is likely to be so reduced.

47 Duty of river purification authorities to deal with waste from vessels etc.

(1) It shall be the duty of each river purification authority—

(a) to arrange for the collection and disposal of waste from vessels in its area which appears to the authority to need collection in consequence of the provisions of section 33 of this Act; and

(b) to arrange for the provision of facilities for the washing out of prescribed appliances from vessels in its area.

(2) A river purification authority may arrange for the provision of facilities by way of water closets, urinals and wash basins for the use of persons from vessels in the authority’s area.

(3) A port local authority constituted under Part X of the Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897 shall have power to make arrangements with a river purification authority for the purposes of any of the preceding provisions of this section.

48 Power of river purification authorities to exclude unregistered vessels from rivers etc.

(1) Where it appears to a river purification authority to be appropriate to do so for the purpose of preventing the pollution of inland waters in its area, the authority may make byelaws providing that vessels shall not be on any such waters which are specified in the byelaws unless the vessels are registered by the authority in accordance with the byelaws or are exempted by the byelaws from registration; and a person who causes or knowingly permits a vessel to be on inland waters in contravention of byelaws made by virtue of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or such smaller sum as may be specified in the byelaws.

(2) Byelaws made by a river purification authority in pursuance of the preceding subsection may authorise the authority to make reasonable charges in respect of the registration of vessels in pursuance of the byelaws; and no charges shall be payable, by persons in or from vessels registered by the authority in pursuance of the byelaws, in respect of the use by those persons of facilities provided in pursuance of the preceding section by or by arrangement with the authority.

49 Deposits and vegetation in rivers etc.

(1) If without the consent of the relevant river purification authority, which shall not be unreasonably withheld,—

(a) a person removes from any part of the bottom, channel or bed of any inland waters a deposit accumulated by reason of any dam, weir or sluice holding back the waters and does so by causing the deposit to be carried away in suspension in the waters; or

(b) any substantial amount of vegetation cut or uprooted in any inland waters, or so near to any such waters that it falls into it, is allowed to remain in the waters by the wilful default of any person,

then, subject to the following subsection, that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (a) of the preceding subsection applies to anything done in the exercise of statutory powers conferred by or under any enactment relating to land drainage, flood prevention or navigation.

(3) Regulations may provide that any reference to inland waters in subsection (1) of this section shall be construed as including a reference to such coastal waters as are prescribed for the purposes of that subsection.

(4) Any question as to whether the consent of a river purification authority in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by the Secretary of State; and any consent given in pursuance of section 24 of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951 (which is superseded by this section) shall be treated for the purposes of this section as given in pursuance of this section.

50 Investigation of water pollution problems arising from closure of mines.

Each river purification authority shall have power to carry out studies for the purpose of ascertaining—

(a) what problems relating to the pollution of controlled waters may arise or have arisen in consequence of the abandonment of any mine in its area or might arise if any such mine were abandoned; and

(b) what steps are likely to be appropriate for the purpose of dealing with the problems and what the cost of taking those steps would be.

51 Codes of good agricultural practice.

(1) The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument approve any code of practice issued (whether by him or by another person) for the purpose of—

(a) giving practical guidance to persons engaged in agriculture with respect to activities that may affect controlled waters; and

(b) promoting what appear to him to be desirable practices by such persons for avoiding or minimising the pollution of any such waters,

and may at any time by such an order approve a modification of such a code or withdraw his approval of such a code or modification.

(2) A contravention of a code of practice as for the time being approved under this section shall not of itself give rise to any criminal or civil liability, but a river purification authority shall take into account whether there has been or is likely to be any such contravention in determining when and how it should exercise any powers conferred on it by regulations under section 31A of this Act.

(3) The Secretary of State shall not make an order under this section unless he has first consulted the river purification authorities.”.