Severn Trent Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities established in 1974. Its area of operation was the catchments of the River Trent and River Severn. It assumed the powers and responsibilities of existing water supply authorities in those catchment areas, the Severn River Authority, the Trent River Authority and the sewage and sewage disposal responsibilities of the councils within its area.[1]
It took its name from the two major rivers in this area, the Severn and the Trent.[2]
In July 1989, the authority was partly privatised under the Water Act 1989, together with most of the rest of the water supply and sewage disposal industry in England and Wales, to form Severn Trent Water, with a responsibility to supply freshwater and treat sewage for around 8 million people living in the Midlands of England and also a small area of Wales.[2] The remaining regulatory and control functions such as pollution control, flood prevention and water resource management were subsumed into the newly formed National Rivers Authority.
Statutory water undertakers acquired
It took over the following public-sector statutory water undertakers:[3]
Section 12 of the Water Act 1973 stated that “where the area of a water authority includes the whole or part of the limits of supply of a statutory water company, the authority shall discharge their duties with respect to the supply of water within those limits through the company.” The following two private statutory water companies continued to supply water as before within their limits as supply but only as "agents" of the water authority:
- East Worcestershire Waterworks Company – from 1 September 1993, the water undertaking of this company was transferred to Severn Trent as per The East Worcester and Severn Trent Water (Amendment of Local Enactments etc.) Order 1993 (S.I. 1993 No. 2130)
- South Staffordshire Waterworks Company
The water authority remained responsible for sewerage and sewage disposal within the limits of supply of these two companies.
Other organisations and functions acquired
The water authority took over the following public-sector bulk water suppliers:
It took over the following main drainage authorities, which were joint boards set up to deal with the main sewerage and sewage treatment in their respective areas:
- Upper Tame Main Drainage Authority
- Upper Stour Main Drainage Authority
It took over two river authorities, responsible for control of water pollution, water resource management and flood prevention:
The authority also took over the functions responsible for sewerage and sewage disposal from all local authorities, including main drainage authorities, within its area; however, section 15 of the Water Act 1973 allowed district (but not county) councils to enter into agency agreements with water authorities whereby the district councils became their "agents" for the maintenance and design and construction of new sewers.[4]
Reservoirs
The company abstracted water from a number of reservoirs. These included:
It also operated the filtration works at the Elan Valley Reservoirs
It also had abstraction licences for river abstractions which included operating rules linked to storage at both Clywedog reservoir and Lake Vyrnwy although no water from those reservoirs was directly piped to supply.
