What UK Water Resources Act 1991: Abstraction and Impounding Licensing requires
The Water Resources Act 1991 governs the management of water resources in England and Wales, with the abstraction and impounding licensing system administered by the Environment Agency in England and Natural Resources Wales in Wales. The core control is in Chapter II of Part II. Section 24(1) provides that no person shall abstract water from any source of supply, or cause or permit any other person to abstract any water, except in pursuance of a licence under that Chapter (subject to the statutory exemptions). A licence specifies the quantity of water that may be abstracted and the conditions and requirements applicable to the abstraction, such as the point of abstraction, the period, the purpose and the means of measurement. Section 25 restricts the construction or alteration of impounding works (such as dams or weirs that obstruct or impede the flow of inland water), which likewise require a licence. Section 24(4) creates the offence: a person is guilty of an offence if they contravene the restriction on abstraction (or the corresponding restriction), or, being the holder of a licence, fail to comply with a condition or requirement of the licence. Section 24(5) provides that a person guilty of the offence is liable, on summary conviction or on conviction on indictment, to a fine. The Act thereby makes the abstraction licence and its conditions the operative compliance instrument for any agricultural, industrial, public-supply or commercial operator that takes water from rivers, lakes or groundwater in England and Wales, and the regime is the principal lever for protecting flows, water bodies and downstream users from over-abstraction.
Pillar: Water & Environmental Resources · Authority: UK Parliament / Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/57/section/24
SHA-256 integrity: 2e2324ea6da5a63e686fada2a22c514fa7e98e2e77c2bc1f4e5d5c9c1c6d3e36
Primary Citations — 8 traced to source
- Water Resources Act 1991, section 24(1)(a) - prohibition on abstracting water from any source of supply except in pursuance of a licence under Chapter II of Part II.
- Water Resources Act 1991, section 24(1)(b) - prohibition on causing or permitting another person to abstract water except under a licence.
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