요약
The Water Industry Act 1991 is the principal statute regulating the privatised water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. It places appointed water and sewerage undertakers (the regional water companies) under core duties — to develop and maintain an efficient and economical water supply system, and to provide and maintain a system of public sewers — and gives customers rights such as the right to connect to a public sewer (s.106). It establishes the economic regulator (the Water Services Regulation Authority, Ofwat), which controls charges through periodic price reviews and enforces standards, and it regulates drinking-water quality, trade-effluent discharges to public sewers, and the metering and disconnection of supplies. The Act also creates criminal offences, including contaminating or wasting water from public supplies.
핵심 포인트
- Water undertakers must develop and maintain an efficient water supply system and supply wholesome water for domestic purposes (s.52)
- Sewerage undertakers must provide and maintain a system of public sewers (s.94)
- Right to connect to a public sewer (s.106)
- Ofwat (the Water Services Regulation Authority) regulates charges through periodic price reviews and enforces standards
- Trade-effluent discharges to a public sewer require consent (Part IV, Chapter III)
- Criminal offences including contaminating or wasting water from public supplies
편과 조
개정 이력
2014 — Water Act 2014
Introduced retail competition for non-household customers and reformed Ofwat's powers and the licensing regime.
2003 — Water Act 2003
Reformed abstraction licensing and water-conservation duties and recast the economic regulator as the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) board.