Water Resources Act 1963

• (b) where notice of the agreement has been so registered, the agreement shall be binding upon any person deriving title or otherwise claiming under that owner (otherwise than in right of an interest or charge to which the interest of the owner was subject immediately before the notice was registered) to the same extent as it is binding upon that owner, notwithstanding that it would not have been binding upon that person apart from the provisions of this paragraph.

• (6) In this section " registered land " has the same meaning as in the Land Registration Act 1925.

Future transfers of functions or property of other authorities and undertakings

82

• (1) A river authority may at any time apply to the Ministers for an order under this section transferring to the river authority any one or more of the following, that is to say—

• (a) any functions of a navigation authority, conservancy authority or harbour authority, in so far as they are exercisable in relation to the area of the river authority ;

• (b) any property of a navigation authority, conservancy authority or harbour authority which is situated in the area of the river authority ;

• (c) any reservoir belonging to statutory water undertakers which is situated in the area of the river authority and is not a reservoir operated wholly or mainly for the supply of water to consumers ;

• (d) any well, borehole or other work whereby water may be abstracted from underground strata, being a work which is situated in that area and belongs to statutory water undertakers and is not operated wholly or mainly for the supply of water to consumers ;

• (e) the functions of managing and operating any such reservoir or work as is mentioned in paragraph (c) or paragraph (d) of this subsection, but without a transfer of the ownership of the reservoir or work.

• (2) Where in accordance with the preceding subsection a river authority may apply for an order transferring any functions or property of another body, that body may themselves apply for such an order.

• (3) The provisions of Schedule 10 to this Act shall have effect with respect to applications and orders under this section.

• (4) An order under this section may contain such transitional, incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as the Ministers consider necessary or expedient, including (but without prejudice to the generality of this subsection) such provisions as they consider necessary or expedient with respect to—

• (a) the transfer of assets and liabilities, the payment of compensation and other financial adjustments;

• (b) the amendment, adaptation or repeal of local enactments ; and

• (c) the application (subject to such exceptions, adaptations and modifications as may be specified in the order) of any of the provisions of Part IX of this Act or any regulations made thereunder.

• (5) Any transfer of functions or property which could be effected by an order under this section may, with the consent of the Ministers, be effected by agreement between the river authority and the other body concerned.

• (6) Property vested in a river authority by virtue of an order or agreement under this section shall not be treated as so vested by way of sale for the purpose of section 12 of the Finance Act 1895 (which provides for charging stamp duty in the case of certain statutory transfers by way of sale).

• (7) Where, by virtue of an order or agreement under this section, property is transferred to a river authority on the terms that—

• (a) the body from whom it is transferred shall continue liable for the repayment of, and payment of interest on, any sum borrowed in connection with the property, and

• (b) the river authority shall make payments to that authority in respect of amounts paid by them by reason of their continuing so liable,

any payment so made by the river authority shall be deemed to be a capital payment or an annual payment according as the amount in respect of which it is made was paid in or towards repayment of the loan or by way of interest thereon.

• (8) Where by an order or agreement made by virtue of this section any functions are transferred to a river authority as mentioned in subsection (1)(e) thereof, references in this Act to the new functions of the authority shall be construed as including, and references to their transferred functions as not including, a reference to those functions.

• (9) For the purposes of an application for, or the making of, an order transferring to a river authority any such functions or property as are mentioned in subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section, and for the purposes of any agreement for the transfer of any such functions or property," 'the Ministers " in this section means the Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Minister of Transport acting jointly.

PART VIII — Financial Provisions

Water resources accounts of river authorities

83

• (1) Each river authority shall keep a separate account to be called the "water resources account " of the authority.

• (2) There shall be carried to the credit of the water resources account of a river authority—

• (a) all amounts received by the authority in connection with their new functions, including such part (if any) of any amount paid to the authority under section 87 of 'this Act (whether in pursuance of a precept issued under that section or to make good a deficiency calculated under subsection (9) of that section in respect of such a precept) as is attributable to those functions;

• (b) so much of any receipts of the authority in their capacity as a drainage authority or fisheries authority, or as successors to a navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority, as may be determined by the river authority to represent the extent to which expenditure incurred by the authority in the performance of their new functions has contributed, or will contribute, towards the performance of their functions in that capacity.

• (3) There shall be debited to the water resources account of a river authority—

• (a) all expenses incurred and payments made by the authority in connection with their new functions, including so much of the necessary and proper establishment expenses of the authority as is attributable to those functions, but excluding any expenses which, in accordance with the following provisions of this Tart of this Act, are defrayed out of any reserve fund or replacement fund maintained by them and any payments made out of any sinking fund so maintained;

• (b) so much of any expenses incurred and payments made by the authority, in their capacity as a drainage authority or fisheries authority, or as successors to a navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority, in respect of matters contributing towards the performance of their new functions (including any amounts paid into any sinking fund maintained by them, but excluding any payments made out of such a fund, as may be determined by the river authority to be expenses or payments which ought to be debited to that account;

• (c) any amounts which, in accordance with the following provisions of this Part of this Act, are paid by the authority, out of receipts carried to the credit of that account, into any reserve fund or replacement fund maintained by them and any amounts paid by the authority out of such receipts into any sinking fund so maintained;

• (d) such part (if any) of any excess calculated under section 87(9) of this Act, and repaid by the authority in pursuance of that subsection, as has been carried to the credit of that account in accordance with paragraph (a) of the last preceding subsection.

• (4) References in this section to a river authority in their capacity as a fisheries authority are references to the river authority in their capacity as a body having functions relating to fisheries.

Reserve funds of river authorities

84

• (1) At any time on or after the date on which a charging scheme prepared by a river authority comes into operation, the river authority may establish and thereafter maintain a reserve fund.

• (2) Subject to the next following subsection, a river authority may pay into their reserve fund any receipts of the authority carried to the credit of their water resources account.

• (3) Except with the consent of the Minister, no sum shall be paid into the reserve fund of a river authority so as to make the amount at any time comprised in the fund exceed ten per cent. of the aggregate amount of capital expenditure incurred by the authority and their predecessors before that time; and the amount paid into the reserve fund of a river authority in any financial year shall not, except with the consent of the Minister, exceed one per cent. of the aggregate amount of capital expenditure incurred by the authority and their predecessors before the beginning of that year.

• (4) Any moneys for the time being comprised in the reserve fund of a river authority may be applied in or towards the payment of any expenses (whether properly chargeable to capital or to revenue account) which, apart from this section, would fall to be debited to their water resources account.

• (5) In this and the next following section "capital expenditure " means expenditure properly chargeable to capital account; and references in this and the next following section to capital expenditure incurred before any time by the predecessors of a river authority are references—

• (a) in the case of a river authority established by virtue of section 3 of this Act, to any capital expenditure incurred by the river board or boards for whose area or areas the river authority is so established, and

• (b) in the case of a river authority established by an order under section 10 of this Act, to any capital expenditure incurred before that time by a river authority whose area is wholly included in the area of that river authority, and such proportion as the Minister may determine of any capital expenditure so incurred by a river authority whose area is partly so included.

Replacement funds of river authorities

85

• (1) A river authority may at any time establish and thereafter maintain a replacement fund, and, subject to the following provisions of this section, may pay into that fund any receipts of the authority.

• (2) Any moneys for the time being comprised in the replacement fund of a river authority may be applied in or towards defraying the cost of replacing or repairing any plant, machinery, vehicle or article belonging to the authority or any part of any such plant, machinery, vehicle or article.

• (3) Except with the consent of the Minister, no sum shall be paid into the replacement fund of a river authority so as to make the amount at any time comprised in the fund exceed five per cent. of the aggregate amount of capital expenditure incurred by the authority and their predecessors before that time; and the amount paid into the replacement fund of a river authority in any financial year shall not, except with the consent of the Minister, exceed one half of one per cent. of the aggregate amount of capital expenditure incurred by the authority and their predecessors before the beginning of that year.

Investment of moneys in reserve and replacement funds

86

• (1) Where a river authority maintain a reserve fund, any moneys for the time being comprised in that fund shall, pending the application thereof in accordance with section 84 (4) of this Act, be invested in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

• (2) Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 12 and 13 of the Trustee Investments Act 1961 (which relate to the investment powers of trustees) shall have effect in relation to any such moneys, and in relation to any investments or other property for the time being representing any such moneys, as if they constituted a trust fund and the river authority were the trustees of that trust fund; and section 7 (2) of that Act (which relates to certain local and other authorities) shall have effect in relation to sections 1, 2, 5 and 6 of that Act as applied by this subsection as it has effect in relation to those sections as applied by section 7 (1) of that Act.

• (3) River authorities shall be included among the authorities to which section 11 of that Act applies (which relates to the operation of collective investment schemes).

• (4) Any income arising from, any such moneys, investments or property as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be treated as revenue available generally for defraying any expenses of the river authority which do not fall to be debited to their water resources account or paid out of the reserve fund or any replacement fund maintained by them.

• (5) Where any income is treated as mentioned in the last preceding subsection, there shall be paid into the reserve fund, from revenue available as mentioned in that subsection, a sum equal to the amount of that income:

Provided that if the payment of a sum under this subsection would contravene any restriction imposed by section 84 (3) of this Act, then, so far as may be necessary for avoiding any such contravention, the sum so payable shall be reduced, or, as the case may require, shall not be paid.

• (6) The provisions of this section shall have effect in relation to a replacement fund maintained by a river authority as they have effect in relation to a reserve fund so maintained, with the substitution, for the reference to section 84 (4), of a reference to section 85 (2), and for the reference to section 84 (3), of a reference to section 85 (3) of this Act.

Precepts by river authorities

87

• (1) For the purposes of this section the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by a river authority for any financial year shall be ascertained as follows, that is to say—

• (a) subject to the following paragraphs, that aggregate amount shall be an amount equal to so much of the expenditure of the river authority for that financial year as is not debited to the water resources account of the authority and is nether defrayed out of any reserve fund, replacement fund or sinking fund maintained by the authority nor defrayed out of sums received by the authority in respect of that year otherwise than by virtue of this section, together with so much of the total amount (if any) paid by the authority in that financial year into any such replacement fund or sinking fund as is not debited to the water resources account of the authority;

• (b) in the case of any financial year for which the relevant water resources expenditure of the river authority exceeds the relevant water resources receipts of the authority, the amount of the excess shall be added to the amount specified in the preceding paragraph;

• (c) there shall also be added to the amount specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection any amount required to be provided in that financial year by way of new working capital, and there shall be added to, or (as the case may be) deducted from, the amount so specified any amount required to be brought forward from a previous financial year, and to be so added or deducted, in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

• (2) In paragraph (b) of the preceding subsection "relevant water resources expenditure ", in relation to any financial year, means any expenditure of the river authority, and any amount paid by the authority into a replacement fund or sinking fund maintained by them, which—

• (a) is incurred or paid before the coming into operation of a charging scheme prepared by the river authority, and

• (b) is debited in respect of that year to the water resources account of the authority by virtue of any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 83 (3) of this Act,

and " relevant water resources receipts ", in relation to a financial year, means any receipts of a river authority which, not being sums received by virtue of this section, are carried to the credit of the water resources account of 'the authority for that year:

Provided that the Minister may in any particular case direct that, in relation to any financial year of a river authority specified in the direction, paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be disregarded, ether wholly or in respect of any such expenditure or amount as may be so specified.

• (3) Not later than the end of the month of February immediately preceding each financial year, each river authority shall estimate the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the river authority for that year; and that amount shall be apportioned by the river authority among the councils of counties and county boroughs any part of which is comprised in the river authority area, on the basis of the appropriate penny rate product for the relevant area of each such council for the relevant year (calculated in accordance with section 121 of this Act).

• (4) A river authority may issue precepts to the councils of counties and county boroughs requiring payment of amounts apportioned to those councils under the last preceding subsection ; and, subject to the following provisions of this section, each such council shall pay, in accordance with any precept issued to the council, the amount thereby demanded.

• (5) If at any time during a financial year it appears to a river authority that the aggregate amount for which they have issued precepts for that year will fall short of the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the authority for that year, the authority shall estimate the amount of the deficiency; and the provisions of subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall have effect in relation to an amount estimated under this subsection as they have effect in relation to an amount estimated under subsection (3) of this section.

• (6) Subject to the next following subsection, the aggregate amount for which precepts may be issued under this section for any one financial year to the council of a county or county borough shall not, except with the consent of a majority of the whole number of the local authority members of the river authority, exceed four times the appropriate penny rate product for the relevant area of the council for the relevant year.

• (7) Where a river authority have borrowed or propose to borrow any money under this Act, and a majority of the whole number of the local authority members of the river authority so resolve, the last preceding subsection shall have effect, during the currency of the loan, as if for the reference to four times the appropriate penny rate product for the relevant area of the council there were substituted a reference to such greater amount as may be specified in the resolution.

• (8) It shall be the duty of a river authority to prepare, in such form as the Ministers may direct, a statement of the purposes to which the amount demanded by any precept issued by the authority under this section is intended to be applied, and of the basis on which it is calculated; and the council of a county or county borough shall not be liable to pay the amount demanded by any such precept until they have received such a statement.

• (9) It shall also be the duty of a river authority, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, to calculate the amount by which the amount demanded by any precept for that year issued under this section to the council of a county or county borough exceeds, or falls short of, the amount which would have fallen to be so demanded from that council if the apportionment under subsection (3) of this section had been made, in relation to each of the councils referred to in that subsection, on the basis of whichever is the greater of the following amounts, that is to say—

• (a) the amount of the actual product of a rate of one penny in the pound for the relevant area of the council for that year, and

• (b) the final standard penny rate product for that area for that year;

and if in any case the calculation under this subsection shows an excess, the amount of the excess shall be recoverable by the council from the river authority, or, if it shows a deficiency, the amount of the deficiency shall be recoverable by the river authority from the council.

• (10) For the purposes of the last preceding subsection the final standard penny rate product for the relevant area of a county or county borough council for any year shall be ascertained as follows, that is to say—

• (a) where the relevant area of the council is the whole of its area, the amount of that product shall be taken to be the amount of the standard penny rate product for that area for that year as ascertained for the purposes of section 5 of the Local Government Act 1958 (which relates to Rate-deficiency Grants), and

• (b) in any other case, the amount of that product shall be taken to be the amount which bears to the standard penny rate product (as so ascertained) for the whole of the area of the council for that year the same proportion as the actual product of a rate of one penny in the pound for the relevant area of the council for (that year bears to the actual product of such a rate for the whole of the area of the council for that year.

• (11) As soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, each river authority shall also ascertain the actual amount which was the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the authority for that year, and shall determine whether, and (if so) how far, the aggregate amount for which precepts have been issued by the river authority for that year exceeds or falls short of the amount ascertained under this subsection; and if the comparison under this subsection shows an excess or a deficiency, the amount of the excess or deficiency shall be brought forward to the next financial year and (if an excess) shall be deducted, or (if a deficiency) shall be added, in ascertaining the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the river authority for that next financial year.

• (12) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions of Part I of Schedule 11 to this Act in the circumstances specified in that Part of that Schedule.

General provisions as to finances of river authorities

88

• (1) Where a river authority holds any funds, or any interest in any funds, created under any local Act for fishery purposes, those funds or that interest shall only be used for the purposes for which the funds or interest could have been used if this Act had not been passed.

• (2) Subject to the preceding subsection, all revenues of a river authority, other than revenues falling to be carried to the credit of their water resources account, shall be available generally for defraying any expenses of the river authority which do not fall to be debited to that account:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to any receipts of the river authority which are paid into a replacement fund maintained by them under section 85 of this Act, to any special drainage charges levied by the authority under section 3 of the Land Drainage Act 1961, or to any receipts of the authority in their capacity as the drainage board of an internal drainage district.

Grants by Minister for works under hydrometric schemes

89

• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Minister may make grants to any river authority, of such amounts as the Treasury may sanction, towards expenditure incurred by the authority in the construction or alteration of works in accordance with a hydrometric scheme.

• (2) No grant shall be made under this section in respect of any works unless the plans and sections for the construction or alteration have been approved by the Water Resources Board, and the Board report to the Minister that they are satisfied that the construction or alteration is being properly carried out.

Contributions by Water Resources Board to river authorities

90

The Water Resources Board shall have power to contribute to any river authority such sums as the Board may with the approval of the Minister determine in respect of—

• (a) any expenses incurred by the river authority in obtaining and recording measurements of rainfall, evaporation, the flow, level or volume of inland waters, and other related matters, in so far as they are measurements which are not required to be obtained and recorded under a hydrometric scheme prepared by the river authority;

• (b) any work of an experimental nature carried out by the river authority in pursuance of any direction given or request made by the Board.

Contributions between river authorities and certain other authorities

91

• (1) Where, on the application of a navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority, it appears to a river authority that any works constructed or maintained by the applicants (whether before or after the passing of this Act) have made, or will make, a beneficial contribution towards the fulfilment of the purposes of the river authority's new functions, the river authority shall contribute to the applicants such sums, on such terms and conditions, as they and the applicants may agree to be appropriate towards the expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the applicants in constructing or maintaining those works.

• (2) Where, on the application of a river authority, it appears to a navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority that any works constructed or maintained by a river authority in the performance of their new functions have made, or will make, a beneficial contribution towards the performance of the functions of the authority to whom the application is made, that authority shall contribute to the river authority such sums, on such terms and conditions, as they and the river authority may agree to be appropriate towards the expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the river authority in constructing or maintaining those works.

• (3) If, on any application under this section, the authority to whom the application is made (in this subsection referred to as " the other authority concerned ") refuse to make a contribution, or the applicants and the other authority concerned are unable to agree as to the sums to be contributed or the terms and conditions on which they are to be contributed.—

• (a) the applicants or the other authority concerned may refer the matter in dispute to the Minister and the Minister of Transport, and

• (b) those Ministers may ether determine that matter themselves or may refer it for determination to an arbitrator appointed by them for the purpose ;

and any decision of those Ministers or of an arbitrator under paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be final, and the other authority concerned shall contribute in accordance with the decision as if the sums, or the terms and conditions, determined under that paragraph had been agreed to be appropriate as mentioned in subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section, as the case may be.

• (4) Any expenditure incurred by a navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority in paying any contribution under this section shall be defrayed in the like manner as any corresponding expenditure of that authority; and the authority shall have the like powers for the purpose of raising money required for paying any such contribution as they would have for the purpose of raising money required for defraying any such corresponding expenditure.

• (5) In the last preceding subsection any reference to corresponding expenditure of a navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority is a reference to expenditure incurred by the authority in performing the functions in respect of which it is claimed by the applicants that the works in question have made, or will make, a beneficial contribution as mentioned in subsection (2) of this section.

Borrowing powers

92

• (1) A river authority may borrow temporarily, by way of overdraft or otherwise, such sums as they may require—

• (a) for the purpose of defraying expenses pending the receipt of revenues receivable by them in respect of the period of account to which those expenses are chargeable and taken into account in the estimates made by them for that period;

• (b) for the purpose of defraying, pending the raising of money by a mortgage under the following provisions of this section, expenses intended to be defrayed by means of that money.

• (2) Subject to the next following subsection, a river authority may borrow money by mortgage for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say—

• (a) the acquisition of land or of any interest in or right over land;

• (b) the construction of any buildings or other permanent works;

• (c) the doing of any other thing the cost of which, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister or Ministers, ought to be spread over a term of years ;

• (d) the repayment of any money previously borrowed by them or borrowed by a river board or other body for the purposes of functions which, by or under this Act, are transferred (whether from that body or another body) to the river authority.

• (3) No money shall be borrowed under the last preceding subsection for any such purpose as is mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) of that subsection except with the consent of the appropriate Minister or Ministers; and a river authority shall not by virtue of paragraph (d) of that subsection have power to borrow for the purpose of making any payment to a sinking fund or of paying any instalment, or making any annual payment, which has or may become due in respect of borrowed money.

• (4) Moneys borrowed by a river authority under subsection (2) of this section shall be charged indifferently on all the revenues of the authority except any such funds as are referred to in section 88 (1) of this Act.

• (5) Subject to the next following subsection, sections 198 to 200, sections 202, 203, 205 and 206, section 207 (except subsection (5)) and sections 208 to 214 of the Local Government Act 1933, so far as they are applicable to the borrowing of money under subsection (2) of this section, shall apply to any borrowing thereunder subject to the following modifications:—

• (a) for references to a local authority there shall be substituted references to a river authority ;

• (b) for references to the Minister there shall be substituted references to the appropriate Minister or Ministers;

• (c) " prescribed ", except in section 205 of that Act, shall mean prescribed by regulations made by the Ministers ;

• (d) for references to the county fund or the general rate fund there shall be substituted references to the general revenues of the river authority.

• (6) Where under subsection (2) of this section any money is borrowed by a river authority for a purpose falling within their new functions and the purpose consists of or includes the construction of buildings or other permanent works.—

• (a) the river authority may, if they think fit, postpone the repayment (by sinking fund or otherwise) of the principal sum borrowed until the end of the preliminary period;

• (b) whether repayment is so postponed or not, the purposes for which the river authority are authorised to borrow money under subsection (2)(b) of this section shall include the borrowing of money to pay interest on the principal sum borrowed during the preliminary period.

In this subsection "the preliminary period" means the period beginning with the date of the borrowing first mentioned in this subsection and ending with whichever of the following dates first occurs, that is to say—

• (i) the date of the fifth anniversary of the date of that borrowing, and

• (ii) the date on which the buildings or works in question are first brought into use.

• (7) Where money is borrowed in pursuance of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section and subsequently money is raised by a mortgage as mentioned in that paragraph, then, for the purposes of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1933 applied by subsection (5) of this section, in so far as they regulate the repayment of the money raised by that mortgage, the money shall, to the extent of the sum borrowed in pursuance of subsection (1)(b) of this section, be deemed to have been raised at the time when that borrowing took place.

• (8) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising a river authority to borrow any money in contravention of any order made under section 1 of the Borrowing (Control and Guarantees) Act 1946 which is for the time being in force.

• (9) The provisions of Part II of Schedule 11 to this Act shall have effect with respect to borrowing before the second appointed day.

Expenses of Water Resources Board and expenses and receipts of Ministers

93

• (1) The expenses of the Water Resources Board under this Act shall be defrayed by the Minister.

• (2) Any expenses incurred by the Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Minister of Transport in consequence of the provisions of this Act shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

• (3) There shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable out of moneys so provided by way of Rate-deficiency Grant or Exchequer Equalisation Grant under the enactments relating to local government in England and Wales or in Scotland.

• (4) Any receipts of any of the said Ministers under this Act shall be paid into the Exchequer.

PART IX — Transfer of Undertakings of River Boards

General provisions for transfer of assets and liabilities

94

• (1) The provisions of this section, and of sections 95 to 97 of this Act, shall have effect in the case of any river board (in those provisions referred to as " the board ") whose functions are transferred by virtue of section 5 of this Act to a river authority (in those provisions referred to as " the authority ") to whom none of the functions of any other river board are so transferred.

• (2) All property, rights, liabilities and obligations which, immediately before the second appointed day, were property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the board shall on that day by virtue of this Act and without further assurance, be transferred to the authority.

• (3) Subject to the following provisions of this section, every agreement to which the board was a party immediately before the second appointed day, whether in writing or not and whether or not of such a nature that rights, liabilities and obligations thereunder could be assigned by the board, shall, unless its terms or subject-matter make it impossible that it should have effect as modified in the manner provided by this subsection, have effect as from the second appointed day as if—

• (a) the authority had been a party to the agreement;

• (b) for any reference (however worded and whether express or implied) to the board there were substituted, in relation to anything falling to be done on or after the second appointed day, a reference to the authority ;

• (c) for any reference (however worded and whether express or implied) to any member or officer of the board there were substituted, in relation to anything falling to be done on or after the second appointed day, a reference to such person as the authority may appoint, or, in default of appointment, to the member or officer of the authority who corresponds as nearly as may be to the member or officer of the board in question ; and

• (d) in the case of an agreement for the rendering of personal services to the board, the services to which the agreement relates were, on and after the second appointed day, any services under the authority, to be selected by the authority, which are reasonably equivalent services.

• (4) Other documents which refer, whether specifically or generally, to the board shall be construed in accordance with the provisions of the last preceding subsection, so far as applicable.

• (5) The last preceding subsection does not apply to enactments contained in any Act, or to orders, schemes, regulations, awards or byelaws in relation to which the provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act have effect.

• (6) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this section, where, by the operation of any of those provisions any right, liability or obligation vests in the authority, the authority and all other persons shall, as from the second appointed day, have the same rights, powers and remedies (and, in particular, the same rights as to the taking or resisting of legal proceedings or the making or resisting of applications to any other authority) for ascertaining, perfecting or enforcing that right, liability or obligation as they would have had if it had at all times been a right, liability or obligation of the authority.

• (7) Any legal proceedings or applications to any other authority to which the board is a party and which are pending on the second appointed day may be continued on and after that day as if the authority instead of the board had been a party thereto.

• (8) For the purposes of this section any agreement or other document in relation to which the provisions of subsection (2) or subsection (3) of section 25 of the River Boards Act 1948 had effect (which subsections contained provisions corresponding to subsections (3) to (5) of this section) shall be treated as having been amended by that section so as to have effect in accordance with those provisions.

Supplementary provisions as to transfer of assets and liabilities

95

• (1) The Ministers may make regulations providing for the registration of the title of the authority to assets vesting in them by virtue of the last preceding section, being assets of a kind subject to provisions for the registration of title thereto, and for any other matters for which provision appears to the Ministers to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of securing the effective transfer of any assets vesting in the authority by virtue of that section.

• (2) Property vested in the authority by virtue of the last preceding section shall not be treated as so vested by way of sale for the purpose of section 12 of the Finance Act 1895.

Pension rights

96

• (1) As from the first appointed day—

• (a) the authority shall be included among the local authorities specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to the Local Government Superannuation Act 1937 (which enumerates local authorities whose whole-time officers are compulsorily superannuable), and

• (b) for the purposes of that Act (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as " the Act of 1937 ") the superannuation fund which immediately before the first appointed day was the appropriate superannuation fund in relation to the board and to officers and servants of the board shall, subject to the next following subsection, be the appropriate superannuation fund in relation to the authority and to officers and servants of the authority,

and, subject to the provisions of this and the next following section, the provisions of the Act of 1937 shall apply accordingly.

• (2) If immediately before the first appointed day the board was a constituent authority in relation to a combination scheme in force under section 2 of the Act of 1937—

• (a) the scheme shall be modified by agreement between the authority and the joint committee established under the scheme, or, in default of such agreement, by the Minister, so far as appears to the authority and the joint committee, or (as the case may be) to the Minister, to be necessary for making the authority a constituent authority and for applying the scheme to officers and servants of the authority, and the scheme shall have effect as so modified, and

• (b) paragraph (b) of the preceding subsection shall have effect in relation to the joint superannuation fund maintained under the scheme as so modified, but only so long as the scheme remains in force and the authority is a constituent authority in relation to the scheme.

• (3) Subject to the preceding provisions of this section, and to the next following section.—

• (a) any statutory provision contained in or made or issued under the Local Government Superannuation Acts 1937 to 1953, the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1948 or the National Insurance Act 1959, which is in force at the passing of this Act, and

• (b) except as may be otherwise expressly provided therein, any enactment passed after the passing of this Act whereby any of those Acts is amended, extended or superseded, and any statutory provision which after the passing of this Act is made or issued under any of those Acts or such an enactment,

shall have effect in relation to officers or servants of the board who on the second appointed day become officers or servants of the authority, as if their employment by the board and their employment by the authority were one continuous employment.

Supplementary provisions as to pension rights

97

• (1) Any such statutory resolution as is mentioned in section 3(2)(b) of the Act of 1937 (which relates to servants and part-time officers of local authorities) which ether—

• (a) was passed by the board, or by virtue of section 29 (2) of the River Boards Act 1948 has effect as if passed by the board, and

• (b) is in force immediately before the second appointed day,

in so far as immediately before that day it applies to any person who on that day becomes a servant or part-time officer of the authority, shall continue in force and have effect as if it had been passed by the authority.

• (2) Any reference in this Part of this Act to obligations of the board shall be construed as including a reference to any customary obligations of the board in respect of pensions (including any customary obligations to which the board became subject by virtue of section 29 (6) of the River Boards Act 1948) notwithstanding that the board was under no legal obligation in respect of those pensions; and section 35 of the Act of 1937 (which provides for the reference of questions to the Minister for determination by him) shall apply to any question as to the existence or extent of any such customary obligations.

• (3) Without prejudice to the generality of the last preceding subsection, where immediately before the second appointed day it was the prevailing practice of the board to exercise beneficially (that is to say, so as to secure the payment of pensions or of increased pensions) any discretionary power exercisable by them by virtue of any such statutory provision as is mentioned in subsection (3) of the last preceding section, it shall, in relation to officers or servants to whom the said subsection (3) applies, be the duty of the authority to exercise that power (or any corresponding power under the statutory provisions relating to pensions for the time being in force) in a way which is not less beneficial than that practice; and section 35 of the Act of 1937 shall apply to any question arising under this subsection.

• (4) The provisions of the last preceding section shall not have effect in relation to any person who gave notice to the board under section 29(4) of the River Boards Act 1948 (which relates to officers and servants of river boards electing to retain their previous pension rights); and if such a fund as is mentioned in the said section 29(4) was maintained by the board, and by virtue of this Part of this Act is transferred to the authority, the authority shall apply the fund, in accordance with and to the extent specified in the scheme relating thereto, in supplementing the pensions payable by virtue of any such statutory provision as is mentioned in subsection (3) of the last preceding section to or in respect of the persons to whom the scheme applies.

• (5) Subsection (3) of the last preceding section shall not be construed as exempting the authority from any duty under any such statutory provision as is mentioned in 'that subsection to ascertain, record or notify the status of officers and servants of the authority, being a duty to which the authority would be subject if employment by the board and employment by the authority were not treated as one continuous employment.

• (6) Where at any time before the second appointed day a gratuity, by way of periodical payments or an annuity.—

• (a) was granted to any person by the board on his ceasing to be employed by the board, or

• (b) was granted to the widow or any other dependant of a person who died while in the employment of the board, or who died during the currency of such a gratuity granted to him as mentioned in the preceding paragraph,

and, if payment in respect of the gratuity had continued in accordance with the terms of the grant, one or more payments in respect of that gratuity would have been made by the board on or after the second appointed day, whether the board would have been obliged to make those payments or not, those payments shall be made by the authority.

• (7) Without prejudice to the last preceding subsection, where for the purposes of any such statutory provision as is mentioned in subsection (3) of the last preceding section the board (if this Act had not been passed) would at any time on or after the second appointed day have been the employing authority in relation to—

• (a) a person who before that day died while in the employment of the board, or otherwise ceased to be employed by the board, or

• (b) the widow or any other dependant of such a person,

the authority shall be treated as being at that time the employing authority for those purposes in relation to that person, or to that person's widow or other dependant, as the case may be.

• (8) In so far as express provision is made by the last preceding section, or by subsections (1) to (7) of this section, in relation to any matter, sections 5 and 94 of, and Schedule 3 to, this Act shall have effect subject to that express provision; but in all other respects the last preceding section, and subsections (1) to (7) of this section, shall not be construed as affecting the generality of sections 5 and 94 of, and Schedule 3 to, this Act.

Provisions where river authority area comprises two river board areas

98

• (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the provisions of sections 94 to 97 of this Act shall have effect in the case of a river board whose functions are transferred by virtue of section 5 of this Act to a river authority to whom the functions of another river board are also so transferred, as those provisions have effect in relation to such a river board as is mentioned in section 94 (1) of this Act.

In the following provisions of this section " the boards " means the two river boards whose functions are transferred to the same river authority as mentioned in this subsection, and " the authority " means the river authority to whom the functions of those boards are transferred.

• (2) Section 94 of this Act, as applied by the preceding subsection, shall not affect the construction of any reference in an agreement or other document to the area of ether of the boards.

• (3) If immediately before the first appointed day the superannuation fund which for the purposes of the Act of 1937 was the appropriate superannuation fund in relation to one of the boards was not the same as the fund which was for those purposes the superannuation fund in relation to the other of the boards, the appropriate superannuation fund in relation to the authority and to officers and servants of the authority (in this subsection referred to as " the appropriate fund ") shall be determined as follows, that is to say—

• (a) if nether of the funds in question was a joint superannuation fund maintained under a scheme in force under section 2 of the Act of 1937, the appropriate fund shall be such one of those funds as the two administering authorities and the authority may agree, or, in default of such agreement, the Minister may determine;

• (b) if one (but not both) of those funds was such a joint superannuation fund, the appropriate fund shall be ether that joint superannuation fund or the other of the two funds as the joint committee administering the joint fund and the administering authority maintaining the other fund and the authority may agree, or, in default of such agreement, the Minister may determine;

• (c) if both of those funds were such joint superannuation funds, the appropriate fund shall be such one of those joint funds as the two joint committees administering them and the authority may agree or, in default of such agreement, the Minister may determine.

• (4) Where the last preceding subsection applies, section 96(3) of this Act shall not have effect for the purposes of section 29 of the Act of 1937 (which provides for the payment of transfer values on a change from one superannuation fund to another); but, with respect to any transfer values which, apart from any direction under this subsection, would, in a case falling within the last preceding subsection, be payable under the said section 29 by the administering authority or joint committee maintaining one superannuation fund (in this subsection referred to as the " transferor fund") to the administering authority or joint committee maintaining another superannuation fund, the Minister, if in the circumstances he considers it equitable to do so, may give directions for securing that—

• (a) no such transfer values will be payable in consequence of the last preceding subsection ;

• (b) 'the assets comprised in the transferor fund will be apportioned in such manner as the administering authorities or joint committees concerned may agree or, in default of such agreement, the Minister may determine; and

• (c) in respect of such part of those assets as may be so agreed or determined, such financial adjustments (whether by way of the transfer of assets or the making of a payment or both) as may be so agreed or determined shall be made;

and any directions given under this subsection may include such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as the Minister considers appropriate.

• (5) In this section " administering authority ", in relation to a superannuation fund, has the same meaning as in the Act of 1937.

Provision for winding up and dissolution of river boards

99

• (1) The Ministers may by order make provision for dissolving river boards; and any order under this section—

• (a) may contain provision for winding up the affairs of any river board to which the order relates, and

• (b) may include any provisions as to matters preparatory or incidental to, or consequential upon, the dissolution of any river board which the Ministers may consider necessary or expedient and is not inconsistent with any provision relating thereto contained in this Act.

• (2) Where an order appointing the second appointed day has been made under section 3 (4) of this Act, the Ministers may if they think fit provide by an order under this section for extending until the second appointed day the terms of office of the members of any river board whose members would, apart from any such provision, cease to hold office during the period of twelve months ending with that day:

Provided that nothing in any such order shall affect the operation of any enactment contained in the River Boards Act 1948 or the Land Drainage Act 1961 under which a particular member of a river board may cease to hold office earlier than the other members of the board.

• (3) The last preceding subsection shall not be construed as prejudicing the generality of the powers conferred by subsection (1) of this section.

Saving for acts of river boards

100

• (1) Nether the transfer of functions of a river board nor the dissolution of a river board by or under this Act shall invalidate any order, regulation, byelaw, scheme, rule, appointment, direction, instruction, licence, approval, consent, resolution, rate, precept, charge, requirement or authorisation made, given, passed, issued or raised or other thing done in the performance of the functions of the river board before the second appointed day, or which by virtue of section 31 of the River Boards Act 1948 has effect immediately before that day as if it had been so made, given, passed, issued, raised or done.

• (2) Subject and without prejudice to the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act, and to the provisions (where applicable) of Schedule 3 to this Act, every such matter as is mentioned in the preceding subsection, in so far as it could have been effected by the river authority to whom the functions of the river board are transferred by section 5 of this Act, shall have effect, as from the second appointed day, as if it had been effected by that river authority.

PART X — Miscellaneous and Supplementary Provisions

Preservation of amenity and public rights of access

101

• (1) In formulating or considering any proposals relating to the performance of any of their functions under this Act, river authorities and the Water Resources Board and any Minister having functions under this Act, having regard to the desirability of preserving natural beauty, of conserving flora, fauna and geological or physiographical features of special interest, and of protecting buildings and other objects of architectural or historic interest, shall each take into account any effect which the proposals would have on the natural beauty of the countryside or on any such flora, fauna, features, buildings or objects.

• (2) In formulating or considering any such proposals, river authorities and the Water Resources Board and any Minister having functions under this Act, having regard to the desirability of preserving public rights of access to areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, cliff or foreshore and other places of natural beauty, shall each take into account any effect which the proposals would have on the preservation of any such rights of access.

Land of special natural interest

102

Where the Nature Conservancy are of opinion' that any area of land, not being land for the time being managed as a nature reserve, is of special interest by reason of its flora, fauna or geological or physiographical features and may at any time be affected by schemes, operations or activities of a river authority, it shall be the duty of the Conservancy to notify that fact to the river authority in whose area the land is situated.

Protection of duty of statutory water undertakers to supply water for domestic and public purposes

103

• (1) In the performance of their functions under subsections (1) and (2) of section 14 of this Act, a river authority shall have particular regard to the duty of any relevant statutory water undertakers to provide supplies of waiter to which this section applies.

• (2) This section applies to the following supplies of water, that is to say—

• (a) a supply of water for domestic purposes, and

• (b) a supply of water for any such purpose as is mentioned in section 32 or section 37 of Schedule 3 to the Water Act 1945 (which relate respectively to supplies for extinguishing fires and to supplies for cleansing sewers, drains and highways and for similar purposes).

• (3) In subsection (1) of this section " relevant statutory water undertakers " means any statutory water undertakers Who fulfil any one or more of the following conditions, that is to say—

• (a) that any part of the area of the river authority falls within their limits of supply;

• (b) that they are the holders of a licence under this Act to abstract water from a source of supply in that area;

• (c) that they have made an application to the river authority for such a licence or have given notice to the river authority of their intention to make such an application;

• (d) that they receive a supply of water in bulk from any statutory water undertakers who fulfil the condition specified in paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of this subsection.

• (4) In dealing with any application or appeal by statutory water undertakers under Part IV of this Act, and in formulating, proceeding with or considering any proposals for the variation or revocation of a licence under this Act of which statutory water undertakers are the holders, a river authority or the Minister, as the case may be, shall have particular regard to the duty of those undertakers, and of any statutory water undertakers who receive a supply of water in bulk from those undertakers, to provide supplies of water to which this section applies.

• (5) In this section "duty " means a duty imposed by or under an enactment, and " a supply of water for domestic purposes ", " supply of water in bulk " and " limits of supply " have the same meanings as in Schedule 3 to the Water Act 1945.

Technical assistance by Water Resources Board to rive authorities

104

Where it appears to the Water Resources Board, on the application of a river authority, that the effective execution, in relation to the area of that authority, of the Minister's national policy relating to water (in so far as it relates to matters falling within the functions of that authority) presents special problems or requires special professional or technical skill, the Board may place the services of any of their officers at the disposal of the river authority for such period as may be agreed between the Board and the authority and on such terms, as to payment or otherwise, as may be so agreed with the approval of the Minister.

Power to restrict or extend spray irrigation provisions

105

• (1) The Ministers may by order direct that references in this Act to spray irrigation, or such of those references as may be specified in the order, shall be construed as not mending spray irrigation if carried out by such methods or in such circumstances or for such purposes as may be specified in the order.

• (2) Without prejudice to the exercise of the power conferred by the preceding subsection, the Ministers may by order direct that references in this Act to spray irrigation, or such of those references as may be specified in the order, shall be construed as including references to the carrying out, by such methods or in such circumstances or for such purposes as may be specified in the order, of irrigation of any such description, other than spray irrigation, as may be so specified.

Compensation of officers and servants

106

• (1) The Ministers shall by regulations make provision requiring the payment by such river authority as may be prescribed by or determined under the regulations, subject to such exceptions or conditions as may be so prescribed, of compensation to or in respect of persons who are, or but for any national service of theirs would be, the holders of any such situation, place or employment as may be so prescribed who suffer loss of employment, or loss or diminution of emoluments, in consequence of—

• (a) any of the provisions of section 5 or Part IX of this Act, or

• (b) any order under section 10 of this Act, or

• (c) any order or agreement under section 82 of this Act.

• (2) Different regulations may be made under this section in relation to different classes of persons, and any such regulations may be so framed as to have effect as from a date earlier than that on which they are made, so however that so much of any regulations as provides that any provision thereof is to have effect as from a date earlier than that on which they are made shall not place any person (other than a river authority) in a worse position than he would have been in if the regulations had been so framed as to have effect only as from the date on which they are made.

• (3) Regulations made under this section may include provision as to the manner in which, and the person to whom, any claim for compensation under this section is to be made, and for the determination of all questions arising under the regulations.

• (4) In this section " national service " means any such service in any of Her Majesty's forces or other employment (whether or not in the service of Her Majesty) as may he prescribed by regulations under this section; and for the purposes of the making of any regulations which would apply to loss of employment, or loss or diminution of emoluments, in consequence of any such order or agreement as is mentioned in section 82(9) of this Act, " the Ministers " in this section means the Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Minister of Transport acting jointly.

Powers to give directions

107

• (1) The Minister may give to river authorities such directions as he considers expedient in relation to their new functions; and the appropriate Minister or Ministers may give to river authorities such directions in relation to any of their transferred functions as he or they consider expedient for the purpose of securing the effective performance of any of their new functions.

• (2) Any directions under the preceding subsection may be given ether to a particular river authority or to river authorities generally.

• (3) The Minister may give to the Water Resources Board such directions as he considers expedient in relation to the performance of their functions.

• (4) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect without prejudice to any other provision of this Act authorising directions to be given for any purpose mentioned in that provision.

• (5) Any provision of this Act conferring a power to give directions shall be construed as conferring a power to give ether general or special directions; and every provision of this Act conferring a power to give directions shall be construed as imposing, on any person to whom directions are given thereunder, a duty to comply with those directions.

• (6) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section any question as to the Minister or Ministers who is or are the appropriate Minister or Ministers in relation to any transferred functions of river authorities shall be determined as if in that subsection the words from " for the purpose of securing" onwards were omitted.

Default powers

108

• (1) If, ether in consequence of a representation made to the Ministers by the Water Resources Board or otherwise, it appears to the Ministers that an inquiry should be held as to whether a river authority have failed to perform any of their functions in a case where they ought to have performed them, the Ministers may cause a local inquiry to be held.

• (2) If, after such an inquiry has been held, the Ministers are satisfied that the river authority have failed as mentioned in the preceding subsection, the Ministers may make an order declaring the river authority to be in default,

• (3) An order under the last preceding subsection declaring a river authority (in this section referred to as " the defaulting authority ") to be in default may, for the purpose of remedying the default, direct the defaulting authority to perform such of their functions as may be specified in the order and may specify the manner in which, and the time or times within which, those functions are to be performed.

• (4) If the defaulting authority fail to comply with any direction contained in an order by virtue of the preceding provisions of this section, the Ministers, instead of enforcing the order by mandamus or otherwise, may make an order ether—

• (a) transferring to the appropriate Minister or Ministers such of the functions of the defaulting authority as they think fit, or

• (b) in the case of any of the new functions of the defaulting authority, transferring any such functions to the Water Resources Board or to any other river authority whose area adjoins that of the defaulting authority or who appear to the Minister to have an interest in the performance of the functions in question in the area of the defaulting authority.

• (5) Where any functions of the defaulting authority are transferred under the last preceding subsection, any expenses incurred by the transferees in performing those functions shall be paid in the first instance by the transferees; but the amount of those expenses, as certified by the appropriate Minister or Ministers, shall on demand be paid by the defaulting authority to the transferees.

• (6) Any expenses which in pursuance of the last preceding subsection are required to be paid by the defaulting authority in respect of any functions transferred under this section shall be defrayed by the defaulting authority in the like manner, and shall be debited to the like account, as if the functions in question had not been transferred and the expenses had been incurred by the defaulting authority in performing them; and the defaulting authority shall have the like powers for the purpose of raising any money required in pursuance of this subsection as they would have for the purpose of raising money required for defraying expenses incurred for the purposes of the functions in question.

• (7) An order under subsection (4) of this section transferring any functions of the defaulting authority may also provide for the transfer to the same transferees of such of the property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the defaulting authority as, in the opinion of the Ministers, may be necessary or expedient; and where any such order is revoked, the Ministers may, ether by the revoking order or by a subsequent order, make such provision as in their opinion is necessary or expedient with respect to any property, rights, liabilities and obligations held by the transferees for the purposes of the functions transferred.

• (8) In the application of this section to any functions of a river authority which, immediately before they were transferred to any catchment board, river board or river authority by virtue of the Land Drainage Act 1930, the River Boards Act 1948 or this Act, were functions exercisable by a navigation authority, conservancy authority or harbour authority, " the Ministers" means the Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Minister of Transport acting jointly.

Inquiries and hearings

109

• (1) Without prejudice to any other provision of this Act whereby a local inquiry is authorised or required to be held, the Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Minister of Transport, or any one or more of them, may cause a local inquiry to be held in any case where it appears to the Minister or Ministers in question to be expedient to do so in connection with any matter arising under this Act or otherwise in connection with any of the functions of river authorities.

• (2) The provisions of subsections (2) to (5) of section 290 of the Local Government Act 1933 (which relate to the giving of evidence at, and defraying the cost of, local inquiries) shall have effect with respect to any inquiry held by virtue of this Act, as if the expression " department" in that section included the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

• (3) Subsections (4) and (5) of the said section 290 shall apply to any hearing (other than a local inquiry) before a person appointed by a Minister or Ministers in pursuance of any provision of this Act, as if that hearing were a local inquiry held by that Minister or those Ministers by virtue of that section, and as if the expression " department" in that section included the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Reports and accounts

110

• (1) Every river authority shall, before such date in every year as the Ministers may fix, send to the Minister and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food a report in respect of the preceding year, and shall at the same time send a copy of the report to the council of every county or county borough any part of which is comprised in the river authority area.

• (2) Every report under the preceding subsection shall be in such form and contain particulars with respect to such matters as the Ministers may direct.

• (3) The Water Resources Board shall, as soon as practicable after September 30th in each year, make to the Minister a report on the performance by them of their functions during the period of twelve months ending with that date.

• (4) The report of the Board for any period under the last preceding subsection—

• (a) shall set out any direction given to the Board by the Minister under this Act during that period, except any direction in respect of which the Minister has notified to the Board his opinion that it should be omitted in the interests of national security, and

• (b) shall include a record of all questions with which the Board have been concerned during that period and which appear to the Board to be of general interest, except any question in connection with which the Minister has given a direction and has notified to the Board his opinion that the direction should be omitted from the report.

• (5) The Minister shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of every report (whether of a river authority or of the Water Resources Board) sent to him under this section.

• (6) The accounts of the receipts and expenditure of river authorities and of the officers of river authorities shall be subject to audit by a district auditor.

• (7) As soon as the accounts of a river authority have been audited, the authority shall send a copy of the accounts to the Minister and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and to the council of every county or county borough any part of which is comprised in the river authority area; and a copy of the accounts shall be kept at the office of the river authority, and any person interested shall be entitled, free of charge, to inspect and to take copies of, or extracts from, the copy of the accounts.

• (8) Any person, on application to a river authority, shall be entitled to be furnished with copies of reports of a river authority under this section and of statements summarising the accounts of a river authority, on payment of such reasonable sum as the river authority may determine.

Rights of entry and inspection

111