WHAT'S NEW

 

WATER LEGISLATION - 8th December 2003

At the end of November 2003 Royal Assent was given to the UK Parliament’s Water Act 2003. This will

• Overhaul all existing law on water abstraction and impounding in England and Wales;

• Introduce new regulatory structures, replacing OFWAT with a Water Services Regulation Authority and new consumer bodies;

• Introduce limited competition amongst suppliers of water to large scale enterprises; and

• Make numerous changes, some significant, to water law in England and Wales.

On 22nd December 2003 the first regulations to begin the process of implementing the EU Water Framework Directive will come into force in England and Wales. This is by general consent the most important revision of EU water law for the last 30 years, and has the objective of achieving ‘good status’ in coastal waters, inland freshwaters and groundwater by 2015. Implementation of the Directive’s provisions will be a major task for the governments of all EU Member states between now and 2015.

William Wilson, Director, Cambrensis was, when working for the UK government, the legal manager of the Water Bill when it was first published in 2000, and he was also on the UK delegation team helping to negotiate the Water Framework Directive, and has written articles and presentations on the thinking behind this legislation and its likely impacts.

For further enquires, please contact us

 

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