Planning Advice Note 79: water and drainage

ANNEX A RELEVANT LEGISLATION

• The Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 and Water (Scotland) Act 1980 specifies powers and responsibilities relative to the supply of drinking water and the treatment and disposal of waste water.
• The Urban Waste Water Treatment (Scotland) Regulations 1994 deal with the collection, treatment and discharge standards for waste water, including those from the industrial sector.
• The Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 set up Scottish Water, transferred to it the responsibilities of the previous water and sewerage authorities and introduced some new rights and obligations.
• Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 made amendments to the 1968 and 1980 Acts
• Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 regulate discharges to the water environment, including groundwater, through a system of authorisation; licences (for the highest risk discharges such as larger sewage discharges), registrations (for discharges of lower risk such as small-scale sewage discharges) and general binding rules (for low risk discharges such as small-scale SuDS). These matters are dealt with by SEPA.
• Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, in relation to compliance with existing statutory discharge consent conditions, created offences for unauthorised use of public systems and provisions with reference to Scottish Water's functions.
• Provision of Water and Sewerage Services (Reasonable Cost) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 clarify arrangements relating to the reasonable cost criteria which apply to contributions towards the infrastructure costs of new development.

A number of European Directives have imposed conditions on Scottish Water's delivery of the functions described above. These include: the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (transposed by the 1994 Regulations mentioned above); the Bathing Water Directive which specifies standards for identified bathing waters; the Shellfish Waters and Freshwater for Fish Directives concerned with pollution and ensure designated waters conform to standards; and the Water Framework Directive relating to the delivery of programmes of measures to achieve good status by imposing controls on point and diffuse pollution, abstraction, impoundment and engineering.