Water Environment (Abstractions and Associated Impoundments) Act 2022
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PART 2 Regulations for certain abstractions | ||
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Regulations for certain abstractions | ||
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8. (1) The Minister, as soon as practicable after the coming into operation of this section, and following consultation with the Agency, shall make regulations for the purpose of regulating— | ||
(a) an abstraction in respect of which a licence is not required under this Act, and | ||
(b) an abstraction that was being carried out immediately before the coming into operation of section 15 in respect of which a licence is required under this Act, until such time as the Agency makes a decision to grant the licence. | ||
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under this section may prescribe all or any of the following: | ||
(a) requirements in relation to measuring or estimating the daily rate and the maintenance of records relating to the daily rate; | ||
(b) limits on the rate of water that may be abstracted from a body of surface water having regard to the surface water status; | ||
(c) measures to provide for the migration of fish and other aquatic species, including the maintenance of natural flow patterns and sediment transport within a body of surface water; | ||
(d) controls relating to the abstraction of groundwater to protect the quantitative status of a body of groundwater including, in particular, terrestrial ecosystems associated with and dependent on that body of groundwater; | ||
(e) requirements in relation to the maintenance of pipework, storage tanks and other equipment associated with an abstraction for the purposes of controlling water leakage; | ||
(f) requirements in relation to the construction, extension and operation of any well, borehole or other works through which water may be abstracted in order to avoid the entry of pollutants or water of a different chemical composition into the water environment; | ||
(g) requirements in relation to the introduction of drilling fluids into a well or borehole in order to test the hydraulic properties of an aquifer; | ||
(h) requirements in relation to a well or borehole which is no longer required for an abstraction, including backfilling or sealing to the extent necessary to prevent loss of groundwater from an aquifer and to avoid the entry of pollutants or water of a different chemical composition into the water environment. | ||
(3) Regulations under this section may— | ||
(a) prescribe different requirements, limits, measures or controls by reference to different environmental objectives and different classes of abstraction, and | ||
(b) prescribe periods within which persons or different classes of person carrying out an abstraction are required to comply with different requirements, limits, measures or controls. | ||
(4) A person who contravenes a provision of regulations made under this section that is declared in the regulations to be a penal provision shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(5) The Minister shall, from time to time for the purpose of achieving the environmental objectives, conduct a review of the operation of regulations made under this section. | ||
(6) In conducting a review under subsection (5), the Minister shall consult as appropriate with the Agency. |