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Statutory Instruments 1999 No. 662 (N.I. 6)
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PART I
INTRODUCTORYTitle and
commencement 1.
- (1) This Order may be cited as the Water (Northern Ireland)
Order 1999.
(2) Subject to paragraphs (3)
and (4), this Order shall come into operation on such day or days as the
Department of the Environment may by order
appoint.
(3) The provisions of this Order
set out in paragraph (4) shall come into operation on -
(a) the expiration of one month from the day on which this Order is
made; or
(b) the day before the day appointed by an Order in
Council under section 3 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 for the
commencement of Parts II and III of that Act,
whichever is the earlier.
(4) The
provisions referred to in paragraph (3) are -
(a) this Part;
(b) Part III;
(c) Articles 59 to
62;
(d) Schedule 3 as it applies for the purposes of Article
48(3);
(e) Schedules 4 and 5;
(f) Part I of Schedule 8 and
Article 63(2) so far as relating thereto.
(5) An order under paragraph (2) may contain
such transitional provisions as appear to the Department of the
Environment to be necessary or
expedient.
Interpretation
2. - (1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland)
1954 shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order
as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland
Assembly.
(2) In this
Order -
"abstraction" means the doing of anything whereby water is removed
from a waterway or underground stratum;
"the Appeals Commission" means the Water Appeals Commission for
Northern Ireland;
"disposal", in relation to sewage, includes treatment;
"the Drainage Order" means the Drainage (Northern Ireland) Order
1973;
"effluent" means any liquid, either with or without particles of
matter in suspension therein;
"engineering or building operations", without prejudice to the
generality of that expression, includes -
(a) the construction, alteration, improvement, maintenance or
demolition of any building or structure or of any reservoir, waterway,
dam, weir, well, borehole or other works; and
(b) the
installation, modification or removal of any machinery or
apparatus;
"information" includes anything contained in any records, accounts,
estimates or returns;
"modifications" includes additions, alterations and omissions;
"notice" means notice in writing;
"owner" means a person who is for the time being receiving a rent of
not less than two-thirds of the net annual value of any land whether on
his own account or as agent or trustee for any person or who, if the
land were let at such a rent, would receive it;
"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations;
"public sewage treatment works" means any sewage treatment works
vested in or operated by the Department of the Environment or a sewerage
undertaker;
(a) a sewer as defined in Article 2(2) of the Water and Sewerage
Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973; or
(b) a sewer, pipe or
drain vested in or operated by a sewerage undertaker and connected to a
sewer as so defined;
"records" includes computer records and any other records kept
otherwise than in a document;
"sewage" and "sewage treatment works" have the same meanings as in
the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973;
"sewage effluent" means the effluent from any sewage treatment
works;
"sewerage undertaker" means a person with whom the Department of the
Environment has entered into an agreement under Article 13(4) of the
Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973 for the
execution or performance by that person on behalf of the Department of
works or services under that Order;
"statutory provision" has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(f)
of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954;
"tidal waters" includes the sea and the waters of any enclosed dock
which adjoins tidal waters;
"underground strata" means strata subjacent to the surface of any
land, and any reference to water contained in any underground strata is
a reference to water so contained otherwise than in a public sewer,
pipe, reservoir, tank or underground works contained in any such
strata;
"vessel" means every description of vessel (whether with or without
means of propulsion of any kind), and includes anything constructed or
used to carry persons, goods or plant or machinery by water, or
constructed to be propelled or moved on or in water, a seaplane on or in
the water and a hovercraft (within the meaning of the Hovercraft Act
1968);
"the Water Council" means the Northern Ireland Water Council;
"waterway" includes any river, stream, watercourse, inland water
(whether natural or artificial) or tidal waters and any channel or
passage of whatever kind (whether natural or artificial) through which
water flows but does not include -
(a) the waters beyond 3 international nautical miles seaward from
the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to
Northern Ireland is measured;
(b) any public sewer or public
sewage treatment works;
(c) any main or service pipe within the
meaning of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973
which is vested in or under the control of the Department of the
Environment;
(d) any drain or road drain -
(i) constructed and laid by the Department of the Environment
under Article 45(1) of the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993;
or
(ii) acquired by the Department of the Environment under
Article 45(6) of that Order.
(3) In this Order any reference to a waterway
includes a reference to the channel or bed of a waterway which is for the
time being dry.
(4) For the purposes of
this Order water for the time being contained in -
(a) a well, borehole or similar work, including any adit or passage
constructed in connection with it for facilitating the collection of
water in the well, borehole or work; or
(b) any excavation into
underground strata, where the level of water in the excavation depends
wholly or mainly on water entering it from those strata;
shall be treated as water contained in the underground strata into
which the well, borehole or work was sunk, or the excavation was made, as
the case may be.
PART II
FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN RELATION TO
MATTERS AFFECTING WATER
InterpretationInterpretation of Part
II 3. - (1) In
this Part -
"analyse", in relation to any sample of land, water or effluent,
includes subjecting the sample to a test of any description;
"apparatus" includes any meter or other device for measuring,
assessing, determining, recording or enabling to be recorded, the
volume, temperature, radioactivity, rate, nature, origin, composition or
effect of any matter, flow, discharge, emission, deposit or
abstraction;
"the Department" means the Department of the Environment;
"deposit" includes store;
"discharge consent" means a consent given for the purposes of
Article 9;
"enforcement notice" has the meaning assigned by Article 12;
"Londonderry Area" has the same meaning as in the Foyle Fisheries
Act (Northern Ireland) 1952;
"mobile plant" means plant which is designed to move or be moved
whether on roads or otherwise;
"premises" includes any land, vehicle, vessel or mobile plant;
"regulations", except in Article 36, means regulations made by the
Department;
"representations" includes objections;
"trade" includes agriculture, horticulture, scientific research or
experiment and the carrying on of a hospital or nursing home;
"trade effluent" means any effluent which is discharged from
premises used for carrying on any trade or industry, other than storm
water or domestic sewage;
"works notice" has the meaning assigned by Article 17.
(2) For the purposes of the definition of
"trade effluent" in paragraph (1), any premises (whether on land or not)
wholly or mainly used (whether for profit or not) for the purposes of fish
farming shall be deemed to be premises used for carrying on a
trade.
General duty of the DepartmentDuty of
Department to promote conservation and cleanliness of water
resources 4.
- (1) The Department shall -
(a) promote the conservation of the water resources of Northern
Ireland;
(b) promote the cleanliness of water in waterways and
underground strata.
(2) The Department shall, in exercising its
functions in relation to the conservation of water resources and the
cleanliness of water, have regard to -
(a) the needs of industry and agriculture;
(b) the protection
of fisheries;
(c) the protection of public health;
(d) the
preservation of amenity and the conservation of flora and fauna;
and
(e) the conservation of geological or physiographical
features of special interest and any feature of archaeological,
historical, architectural or traditional interest.
Quality objectives
Classification of quality of waters
5. - (1) The Department may, in relation to
any description of waters (being a description applying to some or all
waters), by regulations prescribe a system of classifying the quality of
those waters according to criteria specified in the
regulations.
(2) The criteria specified in
regulations under this Article in relation to any classification shall
consist of one or more of the following, that is to
say -
(a) general requirements as to the purposes for which the waters to
which the classification is applied are to be suitable;
(b)
specific requirements as to the matters which are to be present in or
absent from the water and as to the concentrations of matters which are
or are required to be present in the water;
(c) specific
requirements as to other characteristics of those waters;
and for the purposes of any such classification regulations under this
Article may provide that the question whether prescribed requirements are
satisfied may be determined by reference to such samples as may be
prescribed.
Water quality
objectives
6.
- (1) For the purpose of maintaining and improving the quality
of any waters the Department may establish the water quality objectives
for any waters which are, or are included in, waters of a description
prescribed in regulations for the purposes of Article 5, by publishing in
one or more newspapers circulating in the area to which the description of
the waters relates, a notice specifying -
(a) one or more of the classifications for the time being prescribed
under Article 5; and
(b) in relation to each specified
classification, a date.
(2) The water quality objectives for any waters
to which a notice under this Article relates shall be the satisfaction by
those waters, on and at all times after each date specified in the notice,
of the requirements which at the time of the notice were the requirements
for the classification in relation to which that date is so
specified.
(3) Where the Department has
established water quality objectives under this Article for any waters the
Department may review objectives for those waters if 5 years or more have
elapsed since the publication of the last notice under paragraph (1) or
(6) to be published in respect of those waters and the Department shall
not establish objectives for any waters by varying the existing objectives
for those waters except in consequence of such a
review.
(4) Where the Department proposes
to establish or vary the objectives for any waters the Department
shall -
(a) give notice setting out the proposal and specifying the period
(not being less than 3 months from the date of publication of the
notice) within which representations with respect to the proposal may be
made; and
(b) consider any representations which are duly made
and not withdrawn;
and, if the Department decides, after considering any such
representations, to establish or vary those objectives, the Department may
do so either in accordance with the proposal contained in the notice or in
accordance with that proposal as modified in such manner as the Department
considers appropriate.
(5) A notice under
paragraph (4) shall be given by publishing the notice in such manner as
the Department considers appropriate for bringing it to the attention of
persons likely to be affected by it.
(6)
If, on a review under this Article or in consequence of any
representations made following such a review for the purposes of paragraph
(4), the Department decides that the water quality objectives for any
waters should remain unchanged, the Department shall publish notice of
that decision and serve a copy of that notice on any person who made such
representations.
(7) Where a person who has
made representations following a review for the purposes of paragraph (4)
is not satisfied with the decision of the Department under paragraph (6),
he may appeal to the Appeals Commission within 28 days from the date on
which notice of the decision is served on him.
Prevention of pollution of waterPollution,
etc., of water 7.
- (1) Subject to the following provisions of this Part, a
person commits an offence 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 those of another) 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
paragraph (1) if he discharges any matter into a public sewer or public
sewage treatment works, so that it enters a waterway or water contained in
underground strata, if the Department is bound to receive the matter, or
it has consented to do so unconditionally, or it has consented to do so
subject to conditions and the person observes the
conditions.
(3) Where a person is charged
with an offence under paragraph (1), 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 paragraph (1), the court by or before which
he is convicted may on the application of the Department, of which not
less than 10 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 paragraph
(1).
(5) A person who fails to comply with
an order under paragraph (4) shall be guilty of an
offence.
(6) In paragraph (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 Article shall be liable -
(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 2 years or to a fine or to both;
(b) on summary
conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a
fine not exceeding £20,000 or to both.
Prevention and making good of defaults under Article
7(1)
8. - (1)
Where it appears to the Department that a contravention of Article 7(1)
(whether a new contravention or a repetition or continuation of one
already occurred or occurring) is likely to occur -
(a) by reason of any use or proposed use of a waterway or of any
land for the disposal of any matter;
(b) by reason of any use or
proposed use of any land for the storage of any matter; or
(c) by
reason of any use or proposed use of a vessel or vehicle from which
poisonous, noxious or polluting matter may enter a waterway or water
contained in any underground strata;
the Department may serve a notice on the owner of the land or the
person so using or proposing so to use the waterway, land, vessel or
vehicle -
(i) prohibiting the use complained of; or
(ii) permitting
it only subject to conditions designed to remove the grounds of
complaint; or
(iii) requiring it to be stopped within such
period as may be specified in the notice.
(2) A notice under paragraph (1) may include
provisions requiring the removal from the waterway, land, vessel or
vehicle of any matter which, before the service of the notice, has been
dealt with in the way complained of by the
notice.
(3) A person on whom a notice under
paragraph (1) is served may, within 28 days from the date of the service
of the notice, appeal to the Appeals
Commission.
(4) A notice under paragraph
(1) -
(a) shall, if no appeal is brought under paragraph (3), take effect
on the expiration of the period of 28 days mentioned in paragraph (3)
and be final and conclusive as to any matters which could have been
raised on such an appeal;
(b) shall, if an appeal is brought
under paragraph (3), take effect -
(i) if and so far as the notice is confirmed on appeal, from the
date on which the appeal is finally determined;
(ii) if the
appeal is withdrawn, on the date of the withdrawal of the
appeal.
(5) It is an offence for any person to
contravene any prohibition, condition or requirement imposed by a notice
served on that person under paragraph (1) which has taken effect in
accordance with paragraph (4).
(6) Where a
notice served under paragraph (1) which has taken effect in accordance
with paragraph (4) is not complied with, the Department may undertake the
removal of any matter referred to in paragraph (2) and dispose of it in
such manner as it considers
appropriate.
(7) The Department shall, at
the request of any person appearing to it to be interested in any land,
and at his expense, furnish him or such other person as may be specified
in the request with such particulars as may be so specified of any notices
served under paragraph (1), being notices about any use or proposed use of
that land or otherwise material to its
use.
(8) Any expenses reasonably incurred
by the Department in removing any matter under this Article, or in
disposing of any matter so removed, shall be defrayed out of any money
obtained by the Department from disposing of it and, in so far as they are
not so defrayed, shall be recoverable by the Department from the person in
default under the notice.
(9) A person
guilty of an offence under this Article shall be
liable -
(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 2 years or to a fine or to both;
(b) on summary
conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a
fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
|
© Crown copyright 1999
Prepared 12 April
1999 |