Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977

Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“agriculture” includes the breeding, keeping and sale of livestock (including pigs, poultry and any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur) and the making and storage of silage;

“aquifer” means any stratum or combination of strata that stores or transmits sufficient water to serve as a source of water supply;

“board of conservators” means a board of conservators under the Fisheries Acts, 1959 to 1976, and includes the Foyle Fisheries Commission;

“fish” has the same meaning as in the Fisheries Acts, 1959 to 1976;

“licence”, in relation to licences under section 4 or 16, includes, where the context permits, such a licence revised under section 7 or 17;

“local authority” (except in section 25 (5) (b)), means—

(a) in the case of the administrative county of Dublin, excluding the borough of Dun Laoghaire, the council of the county of Dublin,

(b) in the case of the borough of Dun Laoghaire, the corporation of the borough,

(c) in the case of a county borough, the corporation of the county borough, and

(d) in the case of any other administrative county, the council of the county,

and, where the context permits, includes a water quality control authority established under section 25, and references to the functional area of a local authority shall be construed accordingly;

“marine structure” means a platform or other man-made structure at sea;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government;

“monitoring” includes inspection, measurement, sampling or analysis, whether periodically or continuously;

“polluting matter” includes any poisonous or noxious matter, and any substance (including any explosive, liquid or gas) the entry or discharge of which into any waters is liable to render those or any other waters poisonous or injurious to fish, spawning grounds or the food of any fish, or to injure fish in their value as human food, or to impair the usefulness of the bed and soil of any waters as spawning grounds or their capacity to produce the food of fish or to render such waters harmful or detrimental to public health or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural or recreational uses:

“premises” includes land, whether or not there are structures on the land;

“reserved function” means, in the case of the council of a county or the Corporation of Dun Laoghaire, a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1972, or, in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a reserved function for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough;

“sanitary authority” means a sanitary authority for the purposes of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Acts, 1878 to 1964;

“sewage” includes domestic sewage and a combination of domestic sewage and storm water;

“sewage effluent” means effluent from any works, apparatus, plant or drainage pipe used for the disposal to waters of sewage, whether treated or untreated;

“sewer” has the same meaning as in the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Acts, 1878 to 1964, and includes sewage treatment or disposal works of a sanitary authority;

“tidal waters” includes the sea and any estuary up to high water mark medium tide and any enclosed dock adjoining tidal waters;

“trade” includes agriculture, aquaculture, horticulture and any scientific research or experiment;

“trade effluent” means effluent from any works, apparatus, plant or drainage pipe used for the disposal to waters or to a sewer of any liquid (whether treated or untreated), either with or without particles of matter in suspension therein, which is discharged from premises used for carrying on any trade or industry (including mining), but does not include domestic sewage or storm water;

“vessel” means a waterborne craft of any type, whether self-propelled or not, and includes an air-cushion craft;

“waters” includes—

(a) any (or any part of any) river, stream, lake, canal, reservoir, aquifer, pond, watercourse or other inland waters, whether natural or artificial,

(b) any tidal waters, and

(c) where the context permits, any beach, river bank and salt marsh or other area which is contiguous to anything mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), and the channel or bed of anything mentioned in paragraph (a) which is for the time being dry,

but does not include a sewer.

(2) In this Act a reference to a section is to a section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.

(3) In this Act a reference to a subsection or paragraph is to the subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.