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Amendments to Reservoirs Act 1975 in Wales

Ministerial approval has been received for the introduction of new regulations for the Reservoirs Act 1975 in Wales.

The new regulations comes into force from 1 April 2016 and the main amendments are given below and on a briefing note available here.

 The main amendments to the Reservoirs Act 1975 in Wales are: 

  1. The requirement for reservoir undertakers to register their reservoirs with a capacity of 10,000 cubic metres, or more, held above natural ground level, 
  2. A duty on Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to designate reservoirs as high-risk reservoirs where an uncontrolled release of water could endanger human life,
  3. Reservoir undertakers must notify NRW of any incident which may affect the safety of large raised reservoirs.

Further details are available on the Natural Resources Wales website link here.

Full details of the new regulations can be read and downloaded at www.legislation.gov.uk or via the links below:

The Reservoirs Act 1975 (Capacity, Registration, Prescribed Forms, etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2016,
The Reservoirs Act 1975 (Exemptions, Appeals and Inspections) (Wales) Regulations 2016,
The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional Provisions) (Wales) Order 2016.

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