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The Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

This legislation replaced the Water Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 on 24 August 2001, and it contains a number of provisions to combat and prevent pollution affecting waterways and groundwater. It is an offence under the Water Order to knowingly, or otherwise, make a polluting discharge or deposit either directly or via a drain into a waterway or the underground strata. It is also an offence to make an effluent discharge from a septic tank or treatment plant into a waterway or a soak-away without the consent of the Department of Environment (DOE).
Under the Water Order, notices may be served on the owner of land or premises:
  •  Prohibiting an activity that has caused, or may cause, pollution.
  •  Prohibiting the deposit or discharge of a specified material onto land or into a waterway or groundwater.
  •  Requiring a deposit or discharge to be stopped, either immediately or within a specified period of time.
  •  Requiring a clean up to be undertaken, or work to be carried out to remedy or prevent pollution.
It is an offence to fail to comply with an enforcement notice.
Prosecution for an offence under the Water Order can result in:
  •  a fine not exceeding £20,000,
  •  imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months,
or both.
In addition polluters may, if found guilty of an offence, find themselves liable for costs associated with investigatory analysis of samples, clean-up and also the restocking of rivers, if a fish kill occurred.
Enforcement of the legislation is the responsibility of the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS). The Fisheries Conservancy Board and Loughs Agency act as agents for EHS and their officers are authorised to enter onto land or premises to investigate and take samples of water, or other matter, where there are indications that a pollution incident has occurred.
Notes
  • A polluting discharge includes all agricultural waste such as slurry, silage effluent, dirty water run-off from bedded houses, middens, stockyards, mushroom houses, dairies and parlours, pesticides, sheep dip, farmyard manure, fuel oil, fertilisers, nitrates and phosphates.
  • A waterway includes any river, stream, watercourse, inland water (natural or artificial) through which water flows. It also includes the channel or bed of a waterway which for the time being is dry.
Further details on the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 are available on the DOE's EHS website .[external site]