WATER ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1972

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WATER ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1972 - SECT 5



5.(1) Subject to this Part, a person commits an offence under this section if,
whether knowingly or otherwise

(a)he discharges or deposits any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter so
that it enters a waterway or water contained in any underground strata; or

(b)he discharges or deposits any matter so that it enters a waterway or water
contained in any underground strata and tends either directly or in
combination with similar acts (whether his own or another's) to impede the
proper flow of the water of the waterway or strata in a manner leading or
likely to lead to pollution or a substantial aggravation of pollution due to
other causes or of its consequences.

(2) A person does not commit an offence under subsection (1) by discharging
any matter into a sewer or sewage disposal works vested in a local authority,
so that it enters a waterway or water contained in underground strata, if the
authority are bound to receive the matter, or they have consented to do so
unconditionally, or they have consented to do so subject to conditions and the
person observes the conditions.

(3) Where a person is charged with an offence under this section, it shall be
a defence to prove that he exercised all reasonable care to prevent the
discharge or deposit of the matter in question.

(4) On a person's conviction of an offence under this section, the court by or
before which he is convicted may on the application of the Ministry, of which
not less than ten days' notice has been given to the person charged, make an
order directing him to take such measures as the court may consider necessary
to remedy or nullify any contravention of this section.

(5) A person who fails to comply with an order under subsection (4) shall be
guilty of an offence under this section which, for the purposes of subsection
(7), shall be taken to be an offence which is substantially a repetition or
continuation of an offence under this section.

(6) In subsection (1) any reference to matter entering a waterway or water
contained in any underground strata includes a reference to its entering the
waterway or water by being carried into it.

(7) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable

(a)on conviction on indictment, to a fine;

(b)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding #400;

(i)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two
years or to a fine, or to both;

(ii)on summary conviction, to the greater of a fine not exceeding #400 or a
fine not exceeding #40 for each day on which the offence was so repeated or
continued.

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Northern Irish Legislation

WATER ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1972 - SECT 5