Regional water authority

Regional water authorities came into existence in England and Wales in April 1974, as a result of the passing of the Water Act 1973. This brought together in ten regional units a diverse range of bodies involved in water treatment and supply, sewage disposal, land drainage, river pollution and fisheries.

The idea of organising water management into regions based on river catchments had been around for nearly 100 years, since the Duke of Richmond had introduced an Act of Parliament in 1878 promoting the idea. The council of the Society of Arts had offered to award medals for plans to divide England and Wales into watershed districts, to assist in the conservancy of natural resources. The silver medal was awarded to Frederick Toplis in 1879, whose twelve watershed districts cover remarkably similar areas to those established under the 1973 Act. However, the idea was not pursued at the time, but from the 1930s, the idea took shape.

First came catchment boards, created by the Land Drainage Act 1930. While they were primarily concerned with land drainage and the prevention of flooding, they paved the way for river boards, which were established in 1948, and covered the whole of England and Wales. As well as land drainage, they were responsible for fisheries, the prevention of pollution and the gauging of rivers. River boards were replaced by twenty-seven river authorities as a result of the Water Resources Act 1963, and they gained further responsibilities, covering the monitoring of water quality and the protection of water resources. They thus became responsible for inland waters and the underground strata which existed within their area. Sewerage boards had been largely responsible for sewage collection and disposal in areas defined by local authority boundaries and water supply had been managed by quasi regional water boards.

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