Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
5 Contributions by John Bates
PRACTICE NOTES
Maintenance and protection of public sewers: statutory duties, street works, building over sewers and enforcement—Water Industry Act 1991 and NRSWA 1991 (England and Wales)
Maintenance
Every sewerage undertaker is under a duty to ensure its sewers and lateral drains are cleaned and kept in good order so that its area is, and continues to be, effectively drained. Section 79 of the Environment Act 2021, which will commence on a day appointed by regulations of the Secretary of State, places an obligation on undertakers to prepare, publish and maintain a drainage and sewerage management plan. Such a plan sets out how the undertaker will manage and develop its drainage and sewerage systems so that it is, and remains, able to meet its duties under Part IV of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991).
Pending commencement, the Secretary of State has required undertakers to produce non-statutory plans in early 2023 as a planning tool for Ofwat’s 2024 Price Review covering 2025–30. Companies have been asked to assess present capacity and the actions required over 5, 10 and 25-year horizons. Undertakers cannot excuse non-compliance with WIA 1991, s 94(1) by relying on outdated infrastructure inherited at privatisation. Breach of WIA 1991, s 94(1) ousts private...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
Public sewer and lateral drain requisitions, first-time sewerage, charging and enforcement under the Water Industry Act 1991 (England and Wales)
A sewerage undertaker owes a general obligation under section 94(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991) to secure that the area for which it is responsible is, and remains, effectually drained. That obligation is enforceable solely by Ofwat under WIA 1991, s 18. Consequently, to make sure domestic requirements of premises are satisfied by connection to the principal sewerage network within a reasonable period, developers, or owners and occupiers of existing premises, have a right to requisition sewers or lateral drains to meet those needs under s 98 of the Act, provided the financial provisions set out in s 99 (as amended by the Water Act 2014 (WA 2014)) are observed.
Making a requisition
A requisition begins with the formal service of a notice on the sewerage undertaker requiring provision of a sewer or a lateral drain. Only the owner or occupier of premises to be served by the sewer or drain, or a local authority, the new towns residuary body, a development corporation—or a Mayoral development corporation—within whose area the sewer or drain is to be installed, may give such a notice. The notice must identify particular premises, which must either contain buildings upon them or in...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
Sewerage undertakers in England and Wales: duties, powers, DWMPs, storm overflow regulation, nutrient standards, adoption of private sewers, performance obligations and sewer mapping
A sewerage undertaker is the company named by the Secretary of State or Ofwat to act as the sewerage undertaker for the territory described in its instrument of appointment under section 11(1) of the Water Act 1989, as preserved by section 6(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991). The appointed undertaker may carry out its functions within the boundary depicted on the Sewerage Services Area Map attached to that instrument. Any dispute about the limits of an undertaker’s area is decided by Ofwat, in line with Condition A7 of the Instrument of Appointment. Within its area, the undertaker must provide sewerage services pursuant to its duty under WIA 1991, s 94. ‘Sewerage services’ covers the disposal of sewage and any other services that a sewerage undertaker is required to deliver for the purpose of fulfilling its functions.
The Water Act 2014—choice of sewerage supplier
Section 4 and Schedules 3 and 4 of the Water Act 2014 (WA 2014) introduced a sewerage licensing scheme in England. Section 5 and Sch 5 established a comparable scheme in Wales. These provisions came into force in England in April 2017. The aim of the legislation...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
Sewerage undertakers’ statutory powers and duties for sewers and drains: streets and other land, notices and entry, compensation and advance payments, property, relocation, closure and extinguishment (England and Wales)
Undertakers’ powers to lay pipes
The powers available to a sewerage undertaker to install sewers, lateral drains and disposal mains are set out in sections 158 and 159 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991). An undertaker may invoke these powers both within, and beyond, its own area of operation. Those powers apply both inside and outside its area. For the purposes of the WIA 1991, any mention of a pipe—including a main, drain or sewer—also covers a tunnel or conduit that serves, or is intended to serve, as that pipe, together with any fittings or accessories for it. References to laying a pipe extend to building such a tunnel or conduit, to constructing or installing those fittings or accessories, and to forming a connection from one pipe to another. This expressly includes the making of a connection between one pipe and another. Where an undertaker proposes to lay a pipe—other than a storm water overflow sewer—outside its boundaries, it must first give notice of the proposal to the undertaker for the area concerned. The works may proceed only with that undertaker’s consent or, if consent is refused or no reply is given within 28 days, with consent from Ofwat. Sewers in...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
Sewers, drains and related infrastructure: statutory definitions under the Water Industry Act 1991 (England and Wales)
Drains
A ‘drain’ is a system used to carry away wastewater from a single building, or from any buildings or yards appurtenant to buildings within the same curtilage. The term also extends to its accessories, for example:
manholes
pumps
(See the accessories definition below.) Whether something like a terrace constitutes ‘one building’ for these purposes is a matter of fact. ‘Curtilage’ means land so closely associated with a building that it forms part and parcel of it.
Lateral drains
A ‘lateral drain’ is the portion of a drain that runs from the curtilage of a building (or buildings or yards within the same curtilage) to the sewer with which the drain connects, or is intended to connect. Alternatively, where context makes a difference, it is the part of a drain specified in a declaration of vesting under section 102 of the Water Industry Act 1991, or in an agreement under section 104 of the WIA 1991.
Sewers
‘Sewer’ includes all sewers and drains (except drains as defined in the drains section above) that are used for the drainage of buildings...
Environment
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