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28-744: Under the terms of the Water Act 1973 (1973 c.37), the authority was amalgamated with the Trent River Authority , along with the water supply, and sewerage and sewage disposal functions, exercised by local authorities within their areas to form the Severn Trent Water Authority in 1974. The area covered by the Severn River Authority was the whole catchment area of the River Severn and it

56-494: A catchment board , and external drainage boards if there was no overall catchment board. During the 1930s, there was a growing realisation that data on river flows and water quality was lacking, and in 1935 an Inland Water Survey Committee was created. They attempted to collect what data there was, and three annual reports were produced before the onset of the Second World War, but it was clear that gauging of rivers

84-723: A consensus was proving to be time-consuming. Progress was not always smooth, as when the Wye and Usk River Board Area Order was submitted to Parliament in 1951, the House of Lords chose to annul the order. There had been considerable opposition to the joining together of the River Usk and its tributary the Ebbw River with the River Wye in one river board area when it was first proposed. Herefordshire County Council, Hereford City Council,

112-546: A final report towards the end of the year on 5 December. The report organised the rivers of England and Wales into 100 catchments, and suggested that a board should be appointed to oversee the work of smaller drainage authorities within each catchment. The resulting legislation was the Land Drainage Act 1930 , but when it was passed, it only contained 47 of the catchment areas. Drainage authorities became internal drainage boards if they operated in an area which had

140-599: 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 the Land Drainage Act 1930 , which although primarily concerned with land drainage to prevent flooding, created catchment boards . These were responsible for

168-540: A river board area. In addition to their land drainage responsibilities, the remit of the new boards included fisheries, the prevention of pollution, and gauging of rivers. Although the Act proposed river board areas, the precise details were not included in the legislation, and a consultative committee was convened to resolve issues with the boundaries for the areas. This involved liaising with catchment boards, fishery boards , county councils and county boroughs. By 19 May 1949,

196-527: 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 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

224-682: 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. River Boards Act 1948 The River Boards Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6 . c. 32) was an Act of Parliament passed by the United Kingdom Government which provided constitutional, financial and general administrative structures for river boards , which were responsible for

252-645: 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 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

280-682: 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 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

308-583: The Act, this had been the remit of local sanitary authorities, who usually also owned the sewers that were the main sources of pollution. There was therefore little incentive to invest in better sewage treatment works. Such investment was encouraged by the passing of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Acts of 1951 and 1961, during the currency of the 1948 Act, but a Working Party on Sewage Disposal suggested in 1970 that there were some 3,000 sewage treatment plants that were discharging inadequately-treated effluent into

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336-855: The River Boards Act was passed, it reduced 47 catchment areas to a smaller number of larger river board areas, covering most of England and Wales. The exceptions were the London area, which was managed by the Port of London Authority , and the jurisdiction of the River Thames Catchment Board and the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board , which continued to operate under their existing powers. The artificial distinction between internal and external drainage boards ceased, as all of them were now operating within

364-639: The Wye Catchment Board and the Conservators of the Wye had all lodged objections with the House of Lords, on the basis that there was no obvious administrative centre for such an area, and that the management of the River Wye under the existing provisions had been exceptional. The concern with collecting data outlined in the 1944 white paper were addressed in the Act, requiring the river boards to plan and implement systematic flow gauging of

392-589: The borders of 17 areas had been settled, and a draft order to create the first river board, that for the River Severn , had been deposited before Parliament. Robin Turton, MP for Thirsk and Malton, asked the Minister of Agriculture whether the consultation period could be extended in some cases, as there were 60 drainage authorities operating in the Yorkshire Ouse River Board area, and getting

420-423: The lack of comprehensive flow and water quality data was mentioned. In 1944, the government published a white paper, entitled "A National Water Policy" , which stated that the collection of flow and water quality data, as well as the understanding of underground water resources should be resumed and pressed on with vigour as soon as circumstances permit. Such data was to be made available to all who needed it. Under

448-412: The legislation up to that point was that it identified concerns, but provided little in the way of practical arrangements that would allow them to be implemented. With the passing of the 1948 Act, fishery boards ceased to exist, and their functions were taken over by the river boards, in the first steps towards multifunctional management of catchments. Eventually, 32 river boards were established under

476-579: 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 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,

504-543: The management of river board areas, and superseded the catchment boards that had been set up under the Land Drainage Act 1930 . In the 1920s there was a realisation that the current legislation concerning land drainage was somewhat chaotic, being largely based on the Statute of Sewers passed by King Henry VIII in 1531, with some subsequent amendments. Accordingly, a royal commission was convened on 26 March 1927, with Lord Bledisloe acting as its chairman, which produced

532-585: 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 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

560-482: 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, the Water Act 1945 had marked the start of a national water supply policy. It had recognised

588-403: 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 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

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616-405: The rivers within their areas. They were also required to collect data about water abstraction, as part of their general responsibility for the conservation of water resources, but an obvious shortcoming of this was that water supply companies could develop new sources without any reference to the river boards. Another area of responsibility was the enforcement of pollution laws. Until the passing of

644-468: The rivers. River boards were also given responsibility for fisheries. The importance of maintaining rivers for fish was first recognised with the passing of the Salmon Fishery Act 1861 , which dealt with issues such as obstructions in the river, the use of fixed engines, illegal fishing , close seasons, the effects of pollution, and the establishment of a central authority, which at the time

672-545: The terms of the Water Act 1945 , the Ministry of Housing and Local Government were given the responsibility for the conservation and appropriate use of water resources. Those wishing to construct wells were obliged to provide details of their drilling and testing operations to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research , while anyone abstracting water had to keep proper records of the volume of water taken. When

700-741: Was the second-largest in area after the Yorkshire River Authority . Although much of the catchment was in England, the Authority also exercised its powers including flood defence, in the headwaters of the river in Wales The major cities within the authority's area included Gloucester , Worcester and Hereford . The authority was constituted by Order of the Minister of Housing and Local Government dated 18 June 1964 Water Act 1973 The Water Act 1973 (c. 37)

728-404: 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 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

756-575: Was in need of improvement, and its coverage was sporadic. Attempts to understand groundwater levels from data obtained from wells also showed the shortcomings of such an approach. In 1942, the Institution of Civil Engineers produced a report, discussing the development of a post-war water resources survey, and the Ministry of Health's Central Advisory Committee proposed a network of river boards, who would be responsible for systematic river gauging, as well as land drainage, fisheries and pollution. Again,

784-692: Was the Home Office . With the passing of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1907 ( 7 Edw. 7 . c. 15), various provisions of the royal commission of 1900 were implemented, including the establishment of fishery boards to address issues of pollution and water abstraction. The 1861 act and 18 amendment acts that had been passed subsequently were consolidated in the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1923 . Some fishery boards amalgamated, and some ceased to operate due to lack of funding, but by 1948 there were still 45 operational boards. An issue with much of

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