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Section 170: Entry etc. for other purposes.

Water Industry Act 1991 · 1991 c. 56View on legislation.gov.uk

Part VI: UNDERTAKERS ' POWERS AND WORKS — CHAPTER I: UNDERTAKERS' POWERS

Any person designated in writing for the purpose by a water undertaker may enter any premises for any of the following purposes, that is to say—

the carrying out of any survey or tests for the purpose of determining—
whether it is appropriate and practicable for the undertaker to exercise any power under any provision of Part III of this Act to disconnect any pipe or cut off any supply of water to any premises or to carry out any works which it is authorised to carry out under section 64(4), 66(3) or 75 above; or
how any such power should be exercised;
the exercise of any such power;
the monitoring and recording of—
whether water supplied to any premises for domestic or food production purposes is wholesome at the time of supply; or
the quality of the water from any source, or combination of sources, which is or is to be used for supplying water to any premises for those purposes,

and the carrying out of any tests for that purpose.

Any person designated for the purpose—

by any water undertaker within whose area any waterworks are situated; or
by any water undertaker which takes water from any waterworks,

shall, on producing some duly authenticated document showing his authority, have a right at all reasonable hours to enter any premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is, or has been, any contravention of section 72 above in relation to those waterworks.

Any person designated in writing for the purpose by a water undertaker may—

enter any premises for the purpose of—
ascertaining whether any provision contained in or made or having effect under this Act with respect to any water fittings or with respect to the waste or misuse of water is being, or has been, contravened;
determining whether, and if so in what manner, any power or duty conferred or imposed on any person by regulations under section 74 above should be exercised or performed; or
exercising any such power or performing any such duty;

or

carry out such inspections, measurements and tests on premises entered by that person or on water fittings or other articles found on any such premises, and take away such samples of water or of any land and such water fittings and other articles, as that person has been authorised to carry out or take away in accordance with regulations under that section.

During any period when a prohibition or restriction under section 76 above is in force, any person designated for the purpose by the water undertaker which imposed the prohibition or restriction shall, on producing some duly authenticated document showing his authority, have a right at all reasonable hours to enter any premises to which the prohibition or restriction applies for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is, or has been, any contravention of the prohibition or restriction.

The power by virtue of subsection (1) above of a person designated by a water undertaker to enter any premises for the purpose of carrying out any survey or tests shall include power to take away such samples of water or effluent or of any land or articles as the undertaker—

considers necessary for the purpose of determining any of the matters mentioned in paragraph (a) or (c) of that subsection; and
has authorised that person to carry out or take away.

Expressions used in this section and in any provision of Part III of this Act in relation to which this section has effect shall have the same meaning in this section as in that provision; and, without prejudice to the generality of this provision, subsections (2) and (3) of section 68 above and the definitions of "food production purposes" and "wholesome" in section 93(1) above shall apply for the purposes of any power conferred by virtue of subsection (1)(c)(i) above as they apply for the purposes of that section.

Part I of Schedule 6 to this Act shall apply to the rights of entry conferred by subsections (2) and (4) of this section; and Part II of that Schedule shall apply to the rights and powers conferred by the other provisions of this section.

The provisions of this section shall be without prejudice to the other rights and powers conferred by this Part.

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.