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29-773: The North West Water Authority was one of ten regional authorities created by the Water Act 1973 . It was formed from the merger of statutory water undertakings, local sewerage boards and three river authorities , these being the Mersey and Weaver River Authority, the Lancashire River Authority and the Cumberland River Authority. The water undertakings subsumed into North West Water authority included: Municipal corporations Water boards The sewage treatment , sewerage and water supply and distribution arms of

58-453: A select committee of the House of Lords . The report formed the basis for the subsequent bill . The bill became an act of Parliament on 1 August 1930, and came into force immediately. Its full title was "An act to amend and consolidate the enactments relating to the drainage of land, and for purposes in connection with such amendment." One unusual aspect of the act was that it repealed most of

87-461: A catchment board, and external drainage boards if there was no overall catchment board for their area. The distinction only lasted until the passing of the River Boards Act 1948 , which transferred the land drainage, fisheries and river pollution functions of the catchment boards to river boards . Thirty-two river board areas were defined covering the whole of England and Wales, and a river board

116-483: A catchment. The other was that the funding for the drainage work should be levied over a much wider area than had previously been the case. Since the Statute of Sewers of 1531, it had only been possible to collect drainage rates from people whose land benefitted directly from the drainage works, or whose land was saved from damage by them. The new Act swept this provision aside. The new catchment boards could now levy rates on

145-399: A silver medal for his plan to create 12 watershed districts, each run by commissioners, who would have powers to acquire all of the waterworks within their area, and to manage both them and the rivers for water supply and the prevention of flooding and pollution. He saw the need for each to be supported by competent legal advisers and engineers. His watershed districts were remarkably similar to

174-451: A thorough review of the situation should be carried out. Accordingly, a royal commission was set up, with Lord Bledisloe acting as its chairman. It was convened on 26 March 1927, and produced a final report later that year, on 5 December. The report described the existing laws as "vague and ill-defined, full of anomalies, obscure, lacking in uniformity, and even chaotic." It recommended that any replacement should have powers to carry out

203-499: A unified authority with responsibility for all of the water-related functions within a river basin or series of river basins was not new. The Duke of Richmond introduced a river conservancy bill into Parliament in 1878, and the Council of the Society of Arts was prepared to award medals to those who could devise suitable watershed districts to aid such conservancy. Frederick Toplis received

232-512: The Land Drainage Act 1930 , which although primarily concerned with land drainage to prevent flooding, created catchment boards . These were responsible for the management of main rivers , and each was based around a river basin or group of river basins. Because of the emphasis on land drainage, they did not cover the whole of England and Wales, but this changed in 1948, when the River Boards Act 1948 created 32 river boards . They inherited

261-444: The Water Act 1945 had marked the start of a national water supply policy. It had recognised the need for central government to supervise the statutory suppliers of water, and to be involved in the difficult issues of water supply. It had also recognised that the supply of water to non-domestic consumers was part of an integrated policy, and had introduced the concept of abstraction licensing. In many areas, pollution of rivers by sewage

290-451: The Act was published, it contained only 47 catchment areas, listed in part 1 of the first schedule. A catchment board was set up for all but one of these areas by November 1931, with responsibility for the drainage of 67 per cent of England and Wales. Section 84 of the act specifically excluded any jurisdiction over Scotland or Northern Ireland, while section 65 limited the application of

319-668: The River Stour (Kent) and the North Kent Rivers. The first three were listed in the Act, but the North Kent Rivers catchment area was not, and so was presumably set up afterwards. The River Thaw Catchment Board, as mentioned in the Act, was set up in September 1931, and took over the river functions of the River Thaw Drainage Board. The Mid Glamorgan Rivers Catchment Board was created in late 1932, and in early 1933, took over

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348-717: The act to any drainage board which was within the Doncaster Drainage District. This was because the First Report of the Royal Commission on Mining Subsidence (1926) had identified the problems of the Doncaster area as being particularly severe, and as a result, a second commission had looked specifically at that area. It reported in 1928, and the Doncaster Area Drainage Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo.5, c.17)

377-575: The areas of super-sets of river authorities which were also subsumed into the new authorities. Each regional water authority consisted of members appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment , and by the various local authorities in its area. The Act also established a National Water Council . This body consisted of a chairman nominated by the minister, the chairmen of each regional authority and not more than ten additional members nominated by

406-474: The authority were privatised in July 1989, becoming North West Water plc . The remaining regulatory functions of the authority, including pollution prevention , fisheries management , flood control , water resource management and a number of other ancillary functions, were transferred to the newly formed National Rivers Authority . The water supply sewage disposal and sewerage assets, which were previously held by

435-519: The basis on which drainage rates could be collected, removing the 400-year-old precept that only those who directly benefitted from drainage works could be expected to pay for them. Prior to the 1930s, land drainage in the United Kingdom was regulated by the Statute of Sewers ( 23 Hen. 8 . c. 5), passed by King Henry VIII in 1531, and several further acts which built upon that foundation. However, there

464-499: The county councils and county borough councils throughout the entire catchment, not just on the low-lying parts of it, and could also levy rates on the internal drainage boards within their area. However, the 1930s were a time of economic uncertainty, and it was not always possible to levy rates at a level which would pay for drainage improvements. Thus the Somerset Catchment Board were able to improve regular maintenance of

493-491: The government. The Council's duties included implementing national water policy, assisting the ten regional authorities in matters of joint concern, and setting and enforcing national regulations and byelaws on water quality and conservation. The 1973 Act was another step towards an integrated policy of water management, which like much of the previous legislation, was restricted to England and Wales, with Northern Ireland and Scotland being specifically excluded. The concept of

522-430: The legislation that had preceded it. In total, 16 acts dating from 1531 to 1929 were repealed, and three others were amended. There were two fundamental ideas built into the legislation. One was that there should be an overall authority, responsible for the main rivers in each of the catchment areas, who would work closely with drainage authorities, who would be responsible for the internal drainage of smaller areas within

551-530: The main rivers in the Somerset Levels , but would have needed to raise between £5 and £6 per acre to fund improvements. In a time of agricultural depression and falling prices, such rates were unrealistic. Internal drainage boards raised their funding by a levy on the landowners and occupiers of those who lived within their district. As originally conceived, local drainage boards were defined as internal drainage boards if they were situated in an area covered by

580-884: The powers and responsibilities of the River Thaw Catchment Board, which was then dissolved. Rivers in the catchment were the Thaw and Kenson, the Ogmore and Ewenny , the Cadoxton (with Sully), the Avon and the Neath. Two new Internal Drainage Boards were set up, the Cadoxton IDB and the Baglan and Aberavon Moors IDB, but while these were administered by the Catchment Board, the River Thaw Drainage Board

609-598: The powers of the catchment boards where they existed, and took over responsibility for flood prevention from local authorities where they did not. The river boards had additional responsibilities concerning fisheries, the prevention of pollution and the gauging of rivers, to record flows and levels. They were in turn replaced by 27 river authorities following the passing of the Water Resources Act 1963 , each with additional duties to monitor water quality and protect water resources. In parallel with these developments,

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638-612: The water authorities created under the 1973 Act, but quite different to those of the other five entrants whose plans were also published at the time. The only bodies which were responsible for a range of water management functions were the Thames Conservancy , created in 1857, and the Lee Conservancy Board , created in 1868. The first moves towards more widespread management of river basins in England and Wales were enshrined in

667-690: The water authority and covered some 56,000 hectares (220 sq miles), were transferred to North West Water at privatisation. This water supply –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Water Act 1973 The Water Act 1973 (c. 37) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised the water, sewage and river management industry in England and Wales . Water supply and sewage disposal were removed from local authority control, and ten larger regional water authorities were set up, under state control based on

696-406: The work necessary for efficient drainage, together with the provision of financial resources to enable them to carry out their duties. At the time there were 361 drainage authorities covering England and Wales, and the proposed solution of having catchment boards responsible for each main river , with powers over the individual drainage boards, was essentially the same as had been proposed in 1877 by

725-641: Was a serious problem, resulting from rapid expansion of population, and little incentive to invest in sewage treatment works. The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act 1951 introduced discharge licensing, and with extra powers from a similar Act of 1961, tried to encourage local authorities to invest more in such works, but the Working Party on Sewage Disposal, which reported in 1970, concluded that there were over 3,000 sewage treatment works which were performing inadequately. Land Drainage Act 1930 The Land Drainage Act 1930 ( 20 & 21 Geo. 5 . c. 44)

754-470: Was an act of Parliament passed by the United Kingdom Government which provided a new set of administrative structures to ensure that drainage of low-lying land could be managed effectively. It followed the proposals of a royal commission which sat during 1927. The Act sought to set up catchment boards with overall responsibility for each of the main rivers of England and Wales, and to alter

783-417: Was constituted for each one. Consequently, all external drainage boards were within a river board area, and they became internal drainage boards. The 1948 Act was repealed by the Water Resources Act 1963 , and the river boards were replaced by twenty-seven river authorities on 1 April 1965. The Royal Commission had identified one hundred catchment areas, based on the main rivers of England and Wales. When

812-782: Was passed, creating the Doncaster Central Board. Section 65 sought to ensure that the role of the new Catchment Board would not conflict with the role of the Central Board. Some reorganisation of the catchment boards occurred while the Act was in force. On 30 November 1936, the Kent Rivers Catchment Area and Catchment Board were formed, by combining the catchment boards for the River Medway, the Romney and Denge Marsh Main Drains,

841-451: Was some dissatisfaction with these powers, as although there were administrative bodies with powers to manage the drainage of low-lying areas, they did not have sufficient resources to do this effectively. Existing drainage boards and those who lived and worked in the areas they covered made complaints to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries during the 1920s, and the government decided that

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