Water pollution: Improving the legal controls

Abstract

Despite regrettable delays in the implementation of Part II of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, it is now in force and provides the legal basis for water pollution control in Great Britain. As part of the Government's forthcoming legislation to bring about the privatization of the water industry it is planned to revise and re-enact the provisions of Part II of the 1974 Act as a component of a new Water Act. This is an opportunity to make a number of improvements in the law to rectify shortcomings which have become apparent during the period in which the provisions of the 1974 Act have been operative. Specifically, explicit provision needs to be made to clarify the position with respect to the discharge of new pollutants under an existing discharge consent. The status of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice as a defence to water pollution needs to be reconsidered in the light of increasing pollution from agricultural sources. The exemption of new discharges from publicity is in need of clarification, and provision for public availability of information about the aquatic environment is capable of improvement to permit publication of such information, rather than merely the inspection of registers containing the information. The provision of compensation for water authority operations to protect the aquatic environment should be made more generally available. In each case it is suggested that significant improvements in the law can be achieved by relatively minor changes in the form of the present legislation. © 1989 Oxford University Press.