Waterworks Clauses Act 1952

Waterworks Clauses Act 1952

This Act may be cited as the Waterworks Clauses Act 1952.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

lake includes swamp, pond, dam, and well;

prescribed means prescribed by by-law;

source of supply means any place from which the undertakers are by the special Act authorized to take water for the purposes of the special Act;

stream includes spring, brook, river, and other running water;

street includes any highway, other than a highway through a building, and any public square, court, or place within the limits of the special Act;

take, used in relation to water, includes divert and hold back;

the limits of the special Act, if not specified in the special Act, means the water district and the vicinity of the source of the supply, and any lands required for bringing water from the source of supply into the water district;

the special Act means any Act authorizing the construction of waterworks with which this Act or any part thereof is incorporated;

the undertakers means the persons authorized by the special Act to construct the waterworks;

the undertaking means the waterworks, and all works, engines, buildings, pipes, and other accessories connected therewith authorized by the special Act to be constructed, laid, installed, or maintained by the undertakers for the purposes of the special Act;

water district means the water district defined by or under the special Act;

water storage area means land that is used for the storage of water for supply to the public for domestic purposes in a water district and any land appurtenant to any such storage area.

This Act shall extend to all undertakings authorized by any Act which declares that this Act is incorporated therewith, or which is declared by some Act to have this Act incorporated therewith; and all the sections of this Act, save so far as they are expressly varied or excepted by any such Act, shall apply to the undertaking thereby authorized, so far as they are applicable to that undertaking, and shall, with the sections of every other Act which is incorporated therewith, form part of any such Act, and shall be construed therewith as forming one Act.

The undertakers may, upon such terms and conditions as they consider desirable, purchase, take on lease, hire, or otherwise acquire any land, goods, interest, or right required by them for the purposes of the special Act and may dispose of them, if no longer required, to any person and in any manner.

The undertakers may purchase or take in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1993 any lands or any estate or interest therein which they may require for the purposes of the special Act.

Where any estate or interest in land is taken under section five and the compensation payable to any person in respect thereof is determined as in cases of disputed compensation to be an amount the undertakers think not desirable to pay, they may, notwithstanding that the time limited in section 23 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act 1993 has expired, take action otherwise in accordance with and subject to that section.

The undertakers may –

sink such wells or shafts, construct, maintain, lay down, alter, and discontinue such reservoirs, embankments, cisterns, tanks, aqueducts, drains, cuts, sluices, pipes, conduits, mains, culverts, engines, and other works, appliances, and buildings upon the lands, streams, and lakes authorized to be taken by them, as may be necessary to provide a supply of water for any of the purposes of the special Act;

for the purpose of constructing, inspecting, maintaining, altering, relaying, or discontinuing any such works, appliances, or buildings, enter upon any lake, or stream, or the beds and banks thereof, and upon any lands, with vehicles and workmen and there take levels and set out works as the undertakers think necessary;

dig, cut, trench, and break up the soil of any such land, and remove all earth, stones, trees, and other things dug or obtained out of the same, and use such materials in the construction or maintenance of any of the works authorized by the special Act; and for the purpose of exercising any of the powers conferred by this section, enter into such contracts as the undertakers may deem advisable.

For the purposes of the special Act the undertakers may buy water in bulk from any water authority or other person.

The undertakers, under such superintendence as is specified in section eleven, may open and break up the soil and pavement of any street or bridge within the limits of the special Act, and may open and break up any sewers, drains, or tunnels within or under such streets and bridges, and lay down and place within those limits pipes, conduits, service pipes, and other works and engines, and repair, alter, or remove them, and for those purposes remove and use all earth and materials in and under such streets and bridges, and do all other acts which the undertakers shall deem necessary for the purposes of the special Act.

Before the undertakers open or break up any street, bridge, sewer, drain, or tunnel, they shall give to the persons under whose control or management those things may be, or to their clerk, surveyor, or other officer notice in writing of their intention to open or break them up, not less than seven clear days before beginning the work, except in cases of emergency arising from defects in any of the pipes or other works, and then so soon as is possible after the beginning of the work or the necessity for it has arisen.

No street, bridge, sewer, drain, or tunnel shall, except in the cases of emergency mentioned in section ten, be opened or broken up except under the superintendence of the persons having the control or management thereof, or of their officer, and according to a plan approved by those persons or their officer, or in case of any difference respecting the plan, then according to a plan determined by a magistrate or two other justices.

The magistrate or justices may, on the application of the persons having the control or management of any such sewer or drain, or their officer, require the undertakers to make such temporary or other works as he or they may think necessary for guarding against any interruption of the drainage during the execution of any works which interfere with any such sewer or drain.

If the persons having such control or management, and their officer, fail to attend at the time fixed for the opening of any such street, bridge, sewer, drain, or tunnel, after having had notice in accordance with section ten or do not propose any plan for the breaking up or opening, or refuse or neglect to superintend the operation, the undertakers may perform the work specified in their notice without the superintendence of any such persons or their officer.