UK Offence Report

Offences of contaminating, wasting and misusing water, etc.

article 40A(1) of The Water and Sewerage Services (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 (REPEALED)

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 If any person who is the owner or occupier of any premises to which

a supply of water is provided by the Department intentionally or negligently causes or suffers any water fittings for which he is responsible to be or remain so out of order, so in need of repair or so constructed or adapted, or to be so used—

a that water in

a main or other pipe of the Department or in

a pipe connected with such

a main or pipe is or is likely to be contaminated by the return of any substance from those premises to that main or pipe;

b that water that has been supplied by the Department to those premises is or is likely to be contaminated before it is used; or

c that water so supplied is or is likely to be wasted or, having regard to the purposes for which it is supplied, misused, that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (intentionally) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: both a mens rea word and an objective standard appear in the offence itself.

What would breach article 40A(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Water and Sewerage Services (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1993.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
16 December 1993
In force from
17 February 1994
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order confers new powers on the Department of the Environment with respect to the quality of water, introduces an offence of contaminating, wasting or misusing water, empowers that Department to make provision to regulate against such contamination, waste and misuse and to give effect to any international obligations, and makes miscellaneous amendments to the law relating to water and sewerage services. The principal amendments are to the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973 and to other statutory provisions and concern— a the exclusion of a right of appeal in respect to costs or charges (Article 5); b the appointment of assessors to assist members of the Water Appeals Commission (Article 6); c a re-statement of the procedure for applications for water or sewerage services (Article 7); d an extension of the time within which summary proceedings for offences may be commenced (Article 12); e the registration of certain agreements, notices or other matters in the Statutory Charges Register (Article 15); f the prevention of pollution (Article 16); g the increase in the penalty for polluting water (Article 17).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source