Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) In this Act and in
and for the purposes of any relevant Act, unless that term is otherwise
defined in that relevant Act, unless the context otherwise
requires —
CEO means the chief executive officer of the
Department;
charge does not include anything described under
this Act as a fee;
conduit includes a pipe or culvert;
Corporation means the Water Corporation
established by section 4 of the Water Corporation Act 1995 ;
Department means the department of the Public
Service principally assisting in the administration of this Act;
drain means —
(a) a
conduit on or under any land; or
(b) a
channel,
whether natural or constructed, which was or is
used or intended to be used to carry surplus water, and includes any part of
such a conduit or channel;
fittings includes all pipes, meters, or other
apparatus used for or in connection with the supply of water, and all pipes,
cisterns, traps, syphons, manholes, ventilators, and all other apparatus
connected with and requisite to secure the safe and proper working of any
drain, sewer or property sewer;
fixtures , in relation to sewerage, includes all
apparatus that may be attached to the plumbing system of a property for the
collection, pumping or retention of any wastewater for ultimate discharge into
the sewerage system and includes closet pans, urinals, baths, sinks, basins,
troughs and pumps connected with the sewerage system;
former Authority means the Water Authority of
Western Australia under this Act before the commencement of Part 2 of the
Water Agencies Restructure (Transitional and Consequential Provisions)
Act 1995 1 ;
former Commission means the Water and Rivers
Commission established by section 4 of the Water and Rivers Commission
Act 1995 and in existence before the repeal of that Act;
former Minister means a Minister of the Crown who
has at any time been charged with the administration of a relevant Act;
functions include powers, duties and authorities;
government department or department includes any
branch of the Public Service of the State established as a department within
the meaning of that term as defined in the Public Sector Management
Act 1994 2 , but also means any other body established by an Act being a
body that —
(a)
administers or carries out in the State functions in the public interest on
behalf of the Crown in right of the State, or which carries out the function
of a public utility; and
(b) is
declared by the Governor, by Order in Council, to be deemed to be a government
department for the purposes of this Act or a relevant Act;
gross rental value , in relation to land, means
the gross rental value of that land in force under the Valuation of Land
Act 1978 ;
land includes any building or other structure on,
over or under the land, and any tenement or hereditament of any tenure related
to the land;
local authority means —
(a) a
local government; or
(b) any
other person exercising the powers of a local government under the
Health Act 1911 ; or
(c) a
Water Board constituted under the Water Boards Act 1904 ;
Metropolitan Water, Sewerage, and Drainage Area
means the area constituted under section 6 of the Metropolitan Water
Supply, Sewerage, and Drainage Act 1909 ;
Ministerial Body means the Water Resources
Ministerial Body established by section 11;
occupier means the person in actual occupation of
land, or if there is no person in actual occupation, the person entitled to
possession of the land;
officer , in relation to the Corporation, means a
member of the staff of the Corporation engaged under section 15 of the
Water Corporation Act 1995 ;
owner has the meaning assigned in the
Local Government Act 1995 ;
pipe means a main, reticulation, or service pipe
used for water services, and includes any plug, stop-cock, water-cock, syphon,
branch or apparatus used in connection with such pipe and any part of a pipe;
plant includes machinery, equipment, vehicles,
boats or other apparatus utilised in the provision of water services;
premises means any land, street, structure or
other place;
property sewer means a conduit, through, on or
under any street or other land, whether public or private, laid wholly or
partly by or at the expense of the owner or occupier of any premises for the
carriage therefrom of any sewage or wastewater to any sewer, and any part of
such a conduit;
relevant Act means an Act referred to in
section 5(1);
reservoir means a reservoir, dam, tank or cistern;
road has the same meaning as street;
sewage has the same meaning as wastewater;
sewer means a conduit through, on or under any
street or other land, whether public or private, for the carriage of any
sewage or wastewater, and includes any part of such a conduit but does not
include a conduit that is a property sewer;
statutory authority means —
(a) a
Minister of the Crown in right of the State when acting in the capacity of a
body corporate; or
(b) any
person or body, corporate or unincorporate, other than a Minister of the Crown
in right of the State,
who or which administered or administers, or
carried out or carries out on behalf of the Crown in right of the State
functions in the public interest (being functions which the Minister, the CEO
or the Corporation, as the case requires, is by this Act authorised to
administer) pursuant to, a relevant Act;
street includes any highway, thoroughfare, lane,
alley, square, court, place of public passage, public wharf, jetty or bridge
and any private road maintained by a local government or other public
authority;
surplus water means storm water, surface water or
underground water which accumulates or may accumulate to the detriment or
disadvantage of any person;
unimproved value , in relation to land, means the
unimproved value of that land in force under the Valuation of Land
Act 1978 ;
valuation , in relation to land means a valuation
of that land in force under the Valuation of Land Act 1978 ;
waste includes solid, liquid and gaseous waste;
wastewater means liquid waste, whether domestic or
otherwise, and includes faecal matter and urine;
water resources includes —
(a)
watercourses, reservoirs, wetlands, estuaries and inlets, together with their
beds and banks; and
(b)
aquifers and underground water; and
(c)
drainage, surface and surplus water;
water services means water supply, sewerage,
drainage or irrigation services;
watercourse has the meaning given to that term in
section 2(1) of the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914 ;
well means a pit, excavation, shaft, hole, bore or
other opening made for the purpose of obtaining a supply of underground water;
wetland has the meaning given to that term in
section 2(1) of the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914 ;
works includes waterworks, sewerage works,
drainage works, gauging works, wells, weirs and irrigation works including
surveys, excavations, structures, buildings and plant provided by or used or
intended to be used by the Corporation for the purposes of water services or
by the Minister for the assessment, control or management of water resources
and the term may be construed as including the land upon which works are
constructed or provided.
(2) For the purpose of
construing regulations or by-laws made under a relevant Act prior to the
coming into operation of this Act, whether or not subsequently
amended —
(a) any
reference therein to a term assigned a meaning by subsection (1) shall
have that meaning, unless the context otherwise requires; and
(b) any
reference in a regulation or by-law to the Act under which it was made shall
be deemed to include a reference to this Act.
(3) Where a provision
of this Act or a relevant Act authorises the Minister or the Corporation to
enter upon, carry out works in, on, over or under, or exercise any other power
in relation to, any land, premises or thing for any purpose the provision
shall be deemed as also to authorise an officer of the Department or the
Corporation or other person acting on behalf of the Minister or the
Corporation, together with such workmen and other persons, vehicles, vessels
or plant as may be necessary for the purpose, to exercise that power and to
occupy the land so far as is necessary for the purposes of this Act and any
reference to a power of, or to an obligation or liability of, the Minister or
the Corporation may, where the context so requires, be construed accordingly.
[Section 3 amended by No. 25 of 1985
s. 3; No. 110 of 1985 s. 4; No. 24 of 1987 s. 3 3 ;
No. 113 of 1987 s. 32; No. 73 of 1995 s. 8 and 42;
No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 67 of 2003 s. 62; No. 38 of 2007
s. 105.]
[ 4. Deleted by No. 73 of 1995 s. 9.]