| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to make provision for the conservation and use of water resources and for water supplies and for purposes connected therewith. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 42 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 15 June 1945 |
| Commencement | 1 October 1945 |
Status: Repealed | |
The Water Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 42)[1] was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom, introduced by the coalition government and intended to expand and support the national water supply in England and Wales. It marked the beginning of a national water supply policy, required water suppliers to supply water to non-domestic customers for the first time, and introduced the concept of abstraction licensing.
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Transcription
Narrator: Water... our most precious natural resource. On December 16th, 1974 President Gerald Ford signed the federal Safe Drinking Water Act marking the first time a national program of regulations and standards was established to include all public water suppliers in the United States. Walter Mondale, who would later become the Vice President of the United States was a U.S. Senator when the act was passed. Mondale: The seventy-four act helped get people's attention, and a lot more progress was made as a result. So we were able to... I would say, fundamentally reform the role of the national government as a protector of the environment, and working of course with the states and local governments to get it done. As we used to say... water and air don't respect state boundaries. So the states... Minnesota was probably, again, the best in the country but many states were not doing a good job Americans couldn't be sure of safe drinking water and the seventy-four act that we passed was designed to use the power of the federal government to provide leadership and funding to help states do the job. Quie: What I had to decide is, where am I going to stand on these questions, and I laid this principle that with air and water... that is national and you don't worry about your home area as though you're doing something just for them you're doing something for a good part of the nation, if you work in the air and water part of it, because water travels across state lines, and to leave it to each state then how horrible it would be if Minnesota, for instance, would not have pure water, and it flows in three different areas from the state. And so that's our responsibility as citizens of this nation. Narrator: Minnesota was fortunate that it had strong regulations in place well before the Safe Drinking Water Act passed. In 1872, a typhoid fever outbreak linked to impure drinking water, created an urgency to establish the State Board of Health... now the Minnesota Department of Health. Throughout the 20th century, Minnesota has expanded its efforts and programs to ensure safe water. Schneider: In 1974 when the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed, it really... I think, brought that level of treatment and mandated it for all levels of government and water suppliers in the United States, whereas before then... it was more than likely identified in the big cities as something that was really required and important but this brought it out to every public water supply in the United States which takes that safety aspect; not only in the urban areas but out towards all the areas of the country that are served by public water supplies. Linc Stine: It's important that we continue to talk about prevention... prevention is the single most effective strategy, the most cost-effective strategy that we have in cleaning up our water resources. If we have to spend money to treat water either through waste water treatment or through drinking water treatment plants that's an unwise use of our money, that's less sustainable than preventing the harm in the first place. Schneider: The Safe Drinking Water Act ensures that when people take a drink of water in the United States that they can be assured the water's been tested, the water safe to drink, and it meets all the requirements of the act. Quie: To be able to go into anybody's home... turn on the tap get that cold water out there, have a drink of water and not worry about it... and so I love it, because people come here and visit and then they want a drink of water, and I say, "Hey they can grab a glass out of the cupboard... and they open the tap in the kitchen and drink it." I said, "they have confidence, not in me, but in this whole community." Mondale: Safe drinking water is almost the first requirement of a prosperous community. If you have questions, serious questions about safe water, clean water people are going to do something about that and it could be a small town... it simply could ruin it you start with that. Narrator: Everyone plays a role in guarding the safety of our water and making sure investments are made to keep it that way. Small but significant actions by individuals can and do result in massive collective gains. While the federal act continues to evolve, Minnesota has made progress in it's own ways. Ehlinger: Minnesota has been really forward-looking in terms of environmental issues, and I think the Legacy Amendment here in Minnesota in 2008 which really set aside some resources to really protect our groundwater and our surface water and it is been a good investment and it's an investment for the future while we work today to protect things for our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren. McCollum: Safe and adequate drinking water is something we all rely on. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that America's drinking water is protected and available to everyone. Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes is a leader in providing safe drinking water. Today, over four million Minnesotans get their tap water from public water systems. The Minnesota Department of Health, the Metropolitan Council and other agencies are working together to protect our water sources so all Minnesotans can easily access safe drinking water supplies today, and tomorrow.
Background
The supply of water for domestic users in England and Wales was originally part of a concern for public health. As urban populations grew in the early nineteenth century, water was provided either by local authorities or by private companies, each of which obtained its powers from Parliament by obtaining local acts. The scope of these acts varied considerably, and an attempt was made to provide some uniformity by the passing of the Waterworks Clauses Acts of 1847 and 1863. These provided general guidelines for new local acts, which were expected to be based upon the guidelines. Further legislation to define how domestic water supply undertakings should operate was enshrined in the Public Health Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55) and the Public Health Act 1936.[2]
As urban populations grew, so did the demands for water, and the statutory providers sought sources of water outside of their local area, often in more remote upland regions. Each such development required its own Act or Parliament, and the intentions of one statutory supplier often conflicted with local interests in the upland region, or with those of similar statutory suppliers also wanting to develop resources in the same region. Parliament considered each case in isolation, but there was no regional planning to consider the wider implications of any one scheme. There had been calls for a more structured approach to planning in 1869, when the Duke of Richmond had chaired the Royal Commission on Water Supply, and there were further calls in 1920, when the Board of Trade Water Power Resources Committee advocated a Water Commission for England and Wales, but nothing materialised. A little progress was made in 1924, when Regional Advisory Water Committees were set up, as a joint venture between the Ministry of Health and existing statutory suppliers. Their function was to co-ordinate schemes for water supply, which might involve more than one supplier.[3] Government involvement in water supply was, however, limited to the supply of water for domestic consumption only.[4]
Scope
The Act marked the beginning of a national water supply policy. It 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 also broke away from a concern purely for domestic water supply. For the first time, water suppliers were also required to supply water to non-domestic users. Although not fully defined in this act, it also marked the start of abstraction licensing, with powers to control new requests to abstract groundwater from aquifers in designated conservation areas.[3]
Consisting of 65 sections, the Act was organised into five parts, covering central and local planning, local organisation of water supplies, conservation and protection of water resources, powers and duties of local authorities and local undertakers, with the final part covering a number of general sections. This part also included five schedules, of which the fourth contained amendments to the Public Health Act 1936, and the fifth contained details of previous legislation which was repealed by the Act.[5]
It gave the Minister of Housing and Local Government the responsibility "to promote the conservation and proper use of water resources and the provision of water supplies in England and Wales and to secure the effective execution by water undertakers, under his control and direction, of a national policy relating to water." Thus the Minister had functions relating to the conservation of water for supply. This was to be achieved through abstraction licensing and ensuring that sources used for water supply did not become polluted. The other main ministerial function was the supervision of the companies providing a public water supply, and the rationalisation of the areas which they covered. Despite the mention of a national policy, the Act contained little to achieve one, although the amalgamation of water supply undertakers was one strategy that the Minister was given.[6]
One significant benefit of the Act was its impact on groundwater. The need to understand its behaviour had been outlined in a White Paper entitled "A National Water Policy" published in 1944, and the Act required anyone constructing a well to inform the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research of their drilling and testing operations. Those abstracting water were required to keep proper records of the volumes of water taken.[7]
In 1945, there were over 1,000 water suppliers in England and Wales,[8] with 26 supplying half the volume of water used. Another 97 supplied a further quarter, and the remainder was split between 900 small undertakings.[citation needed] The Act did not extend as far as allowing the nationalisation of these water suppliers, but it did give the Minister power to order individual suppliers to amalgamate.
Bibliography
- Labour Party Research Department (1950). "chapter 17". Facts and Figures for Socialists, 1951. London.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Lees, M L (October 1985). "Inland Water Surveying in the United Kingdom" (PDF). Institute of Hydrology. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2020.
- Ofwat (2006). "The Development of the Water Industry in England and Wales" (PDF). OFWAT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2015.
- Porter, Elizabeth (1978). Water Management in England and Wales. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-21865-8.
References
- ^ "Water Act 1945 - Introduction". The National Archives. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
- ^ Porter 1978, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b Porter 1978, p. 24.
- ^ Porter 1978, p. 23.
- ^ "Water Act 1945 - full text" (PDF). HMSO. 1945. pp. i–iii. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
- ^ Porter 1978, p. 29.
- ^ Lees 1985, p. 39.
- ^ Ofwat 2006, p. 1.
This page was last edited on 23 March 2024, at 10:18