The Water Resources Act 1963 (c. 38) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that continued the process of creating an integrated management structure for water, which had begun with the passing of the Land Drainage Act 1930. It created river authorities and a Water Resources Board. River authorities were responsible for conservation, re-distribution and augmentation of water resources in their area, for ensuring that water resources were used properly in their area, or were transferred to the area of another river authority. The river authorities covered the areas of one or more of the river boards created under the River Boards Act 1948, and inherited their duties and responsibilities, including those concerned with fisheries, the prevention of pollution, and the gauging of rivers. It did not integrate the provision of public water supply into the overall management of water resources, but it introduced a system of charges and licenses for water abstraction, which enabled the river authorities to allocate water to potential users. This included the water supply agencies, who now needed their supplies to be licensed.
Scope
The legislation made provision for a "first appointed day", on which the river authorities would come into existence, and this was set on 15 October 1964, as a result of the River Authorities (First Appointed Day) Order 1964. A River Authorities (Second Appointed Day) Order 1964 established 1 April 1965 as the day on which the new authorities would take over the responsibilities of the previous River Boards, which would then cease to exist. The River Boards Act 1948, under which they had been established, was also repealed on that day. Under the new legislation, twenty-seven River Authorities replaced the 32 existing River Boards. As well as inheriting land drainage, fisheries and the prevention of pollution functions, the new authorities were given additional duties to monitor water quality and protect water resources. They thus became responsible for inland waters and the underground strata which existed within their area.