Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“abnormal situation” means an event or combination of events impacting on bathing water quality which the Agency would not expect to occur, on average, more than once every four years;
“the Agency” means the Environment Agency;
“Agency management measures” means measures in relation to a bathing water taken by the Agency—
“the appropriate Minister” means—
in relation to a bathing water in England, the Secretary of State; or
in relation to a bathing water in Wales, one of the Welsh Ministers;
“bathing season” means the period specified in regulation 4;
“a bathing water” means an area of surface water identified under regulation 3;
“control”, in relation to a bathing water, means control of the land immediately adjacent to the bathing water which is normally used to access the bathing water from the landward side and, where the bathing water is tidal, control of such land above the high water mark;
“the Bathing Water Directive” means Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC(1);
“bathing water profile” means the profile established under regulation 7;
“cyanobacterial proliferation” means an accumulation of cyanobacteria including in the form of a bloom, mat or scum;
“England” includes the territorial sea adjacent to England and not forming any part of Wales;
“local authority” means—
in England, the council of any district, the unitary authority of a place in which there are no districts, the council of a London borough, the Common Council of the City of London or the Council of the Isles of Scilly; or
in Wales, the council of a county or county borough;
“local authority management measures” means measures taken, under regulation 9, by a local authority in relation to a bathing water which it controls—
to give information to the public; or
to prevent, by means of public information, bathers’ exposure to pollution;
“management measures” means Agency management measures, local authority management measures or private controller management measures;
“permanent advice against bathing” means advice issued, in relation to at least one whole bathing season, under regulation 13;
“pollution” means contamination which affects bathing water quality and presents a risk to bathers’ health from the following—
intestinal enterococci or Escherichia coli;
cyanobacterial proliferation;
a proliferation of macro-algae or marine phytoplankton;
waste, including tarry residues, glass, plastic or rubber;
“private controller” of a bathing water means a person, other than a local authority, who controls the bathing water;
“private controller management measures” means measures taken, under regulation 9, by a private controller of a bathing water in relation to the bathing water—
to give information to the public; or
to prevent, by means of public information, bathers’ exposure to pollution;
“relevant measures for short-term pollution” in relation to a bathing water means measures, of the following kinds, for identifying the causes of, predicting, and dealing with, short-term pollution at the bathing water—
Agency management measures;
the establishment of surveillance and early warning systems with a view to preventing bathers’ exposure to the short-term pollution by means of public information under regulation 14;
measures taken by the Agency (as part of its responsibilities referred to in regulation 5) to prevent, reduce or eliminate the causes of the short-term pollution;
“set of bathing water quality data” means data obtained from results of samples taken under Part 1 of Schedule 3;
“short-term pollution” means contamination by intestinal enterococci or Escherichia coli where the Agency—
has identified the causes; and
does not normally expect the contamination to affect bathing water quality for more than approximately 72 hours after the bathing water is first affected;
“Wales” has the meaning given by section 158 of the Government of Wales Act 2006(2); and
“the Water Framework Directive” means Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy(3).
(2) In these Regulations, “coastal water”, “groundwater”, “inland water”, “surface water” and “transitional waters” have the same meaning as in the Water Framework Directive and those definitions, together with other relevant definitions from that Directive, are set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations.