Part 5: Water Section 78: Water resources management plans, drought plans and joint proposals
Subsection (1) provides that the following subsections will amend Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Water Industry Act 1991.
	Subsection (2) makes a number of changes to section 37A of the Act. Subsection (2)(a) amends the heading of section 37A to remove the words "preparation and review". The procedure for the preparation and review of water resources management plans will now be set out in regulations and directions made under new sections 39F and 39G of the Act. Subsection (2)(b) removes from primary legislation the reference to water undertakers taking account of water introduced into their area of appointment by water supply licensees. This requirement will instead be addressed in secondary legislation. Subsections (2)(c) to (f) make some amendments in light of the fact that the procedure for preparing and publishing water resources management plans will be set out in secondary legislation. Cross-references to section 37B are also removed, as this section will be replaced by the new powers to make secondary legislation as to procedure.
	Subsection (3) omits section 37B of the Act, which contains the current requirements for the publication of a draft and final water resources management plan and the handling of consultation responses on the draft plan, and section 37C, which contains the current requirements for water supply licensees to provide information to water undertakers. These provisions will be replaced by the provisions in regulations and directions made under new sections 39F and 39G.
	Subsection (4) makes amendments to section 37D to remove references to section 37B and section 37C, since those sections have been omitted by subsection (3).
	Subsection (5) makes amendments to section 39B, which relates to the procedure for preparing and revising drought plans, to change those provisions that rely on and refer to the water resources management plan provisions amended in the previous subsections.
	Subsection (6) omits section 39C, which relates to information sharing in the context of drought plan preparation, since regulations made under new section 39F will provide for the process of information sharing in relation to drought plans.
	Subsection (7) inserts new sections 39E, 39F, 39G and 39H into the Water Industry Act 1991.