The Act – Section by Section Part 7 – Reservoirs
236.Part 7 amends the Reservoirs Act 1975, which sets safety requirements to prevent escapes of water from reservoirs. The 1975 Act imposes duties on persons (referred to as “undertakers”) who own, operate or use large raised reservoirs. These duties regulate maintenance and inspection as well as structural changes to large raised reservoirs and, in most cases, they require the appointment of qualified civil engineers to inspect and supervise works on reservoirs and recommend safety measures. Where an engineer recommends measures under the 1975 Act, the undertaker generally has a duty to implement those measures. “Relevant authorities” (also referred to in the Act as “enforcement authorities”) then have duties to maintain registers of information about large raised reservoirs, powers and duties to secure that undertakers comply with their duties under the Act and duties to report to the Scottish Ministers. Enforcement action involves service of written notices on undertakers who have failed to appoint engineers or implement measures recommended by engineers. Failure to comply with a notice is a criminal offence and also triggers a power for the enforcement authority to carry out the work itself and recover the costs from the undertaker.