Reservoirs Act 1975—Environment Agency proposals for change

In October 2004 the Environment Agency became the enforcement authority for the Reservoirs Act 1975 (the Act) in England and Wales. Since the Environment Agency took on this role, the authors have been considering the changes to the Act they would like to see incorporated. The Environment Agency's initial proposals were published in the last biennial report to the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). Latest recommendations for changes to the Act follow the publication of the Pitt Review of the 2007 summer floods. Recommendation 58 of Sir Michael Pitt's review stated that ‘The Government should implement the legislative changes proposed in the Environment Agency's biennial report on dam and reservoir safety through the forthcoming flooding legislation.’ The key change proposed by the authors is to introduce a risk-based approach that would determine which reservoirs should come under the Act, instead of the current 25 000 m³ threshold. This paper describes the various proposals in more detail and outlines the potential programme for including these changes in the forthcoming Floods and Water Bill.