Water & Sewage
Water & Sewage
Water supply and provision of a sewerage system was a local responsibility until 1996, but from the mid-19th century onwards central government exercised some control over local provision of water supplies. Wells, streams and open sewers were the main provision for centuries but by the early 19th century most legislation required ‘wholesome water’ and one recurring issue throughout the 19th and 20th century was whether this publicly provided water could be used to water gardens or wash carriages or vehicles, with or without a hosepipe.
Burghs acquired new powers for water and sewerage either through local acts of parliament, which often set up water companies or trusts, or through the adoption of general police acts. One early local act was the Privy Council permission to Edinburgh in 1621 to pipe water from the countryside, implemented in 1674.[1] Industrialisation and population increases in the 19th century led to local water acts in Glasgow and towns such as Kirkcaldy, Peterhead and many others.[2] Adopting Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 enabled royal burghs, burghs of barony and burghs of regality to apply funds raised from assessments to water supply and distribution and to building and maintaining common sewers and drains, as well as other improvements.[3] This was extended to parliamentary burghs from 1847 and to new police burghs from 1850.[4] Additional powers were given in 1862 including responsibility for water supplies for domestic and ordinary purposes, and surveying and drawing up plans showing drains and sewerage pipes.[5] Despite these general powers, there was still a need for local acts of parliament, and this process was simplified by the Waterworks Clauses Acts of 1847 and 1863 which provided common clauses that local acts could reference.[6] From 1930, both large and small burghs continued to have water and sewerage responsibilities but could combine with other local authorities to form joint boards and the powers of existing water trusts were not affected.[7]
Water and sewerage outwith the burghs was reliant on landowners until parochial boards were given water and sewerage responsibilities under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1867.[8] This Act also enabled local people to request the formation of a special water supply district or a special drainage district by the parochial board, and then, after 1889, by the district committee.[9] From 1930 water and sewerage responsibilities transferred to county councils and in 1949 special water districts were dissolved.[10]
Central government supervision of water supplies began in 1867, when the Board of Supervision (originally set up under the Poor Law) was given authority to determine lead local authorities where boundaries of parishes overlapped with town councils or other bodies.[11] Legislation from 1889 onwards gradually gave greater supervisory powers in public health to the Board of Supervision and its successors (the Local Government Board for Scotland from 1894, the Scottish Board of Health from 1919, the Department of Health for Scotland from 1929 and the Scottish Development Department from 1962).[12] The Water (Scotland) Act 1946 made the Secretary of State for Scotland responsible for all aspects of the public water supply service, including the quality and quantity of water, the approval of new works and obtaining co-operation between local authorities through joint boards. Every house was to be provided with an inside water supply and new houses could not be built without an inside supply.[13]
In 1967 local water authorities, whether counties or burghs or trusts or joint boards, were replaced by regional boards.[14] Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, regional and islands councils were given responsibility for the control of public water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal, confirmed by the Water (Scotland) Act 1980.[15]
Although local authorities provided sewers and sewerage, it was the responsibility of distilleries, factories and other commercial waste producers to treat their waste before it entered the public sewers.[16] In 1876 there was a new requirement to use ‘the best and practicable means for rendering harmless’ any sewage before it was discharged into streams or rivers.[17] These powers and responsibilities were consolidated and expanded by the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 which made it the duty of every local authority to provide public sewers for draining domestic sewage, surface water and trade effluent and to make provision for dealing with the contents through sewage treatment works or other means.[18] Special drainage districts were dissolved and the local authorities confirmed as county councils and town councils (with no distinction made between large and small burghs). As noted above, in 1973 sewerage became the responsibility of regional and islands councils.
In 1996 responsibility for water and sewerage was removed from local authorities and instead three new public water authorities were created – East of Scotland Water, West of Scotland Water and North of Scotland.[19] At the same time the Scottish Water and Sewerage Customer Council was set up, and in 1999 a Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland was established, with Water Industry Consultative Committees, aimed at promoting the interests of customers.[20] In 2002 the three water authorities were replaced by a new national body, Scottish Water and in 2005 the Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland was replaced by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.[21]
Records of local water trusts and joint boards, prior to 1996, may be found in local authority archives, along with local authority records of water supplies and sewerage. The National Records of Scotland hold central government records of water and sewerage (reference code DD13), including a few records of the three water authorities from 1996-2003, and is the designated archives for records of Scottish Water and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland under the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011.
Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2021 revised 2025)
Related Knowledge Base entries
Sanitary Inspection/Environmental Health
Bibliography
Bell, James, and James Paton, Glasgow: Its Municipal Organization and Administration (J. MacLehose and Sons, 1896)
Ferguson, Keith, An introduction to local government in Scotland (The Planning Exchange, 1984)
Templeton, Archibald A., ‘Water’ in Source book and history of administrative law in Scotland ed. by M. R. McLarty (Hodge, 1956) pp. 220-28
Whyte, W. E., Local Government in Scotland (Edinburgh: Hodge & Co, 1936)
References
[1] Another regarding the bringing in of water to Edinburgh, The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, ed. by K.M. Brown and others (University of St Andrews, 2007-2021),1621/6/51 <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1621/6/51>.
[2] Glasgow Water Act 1806 (46 Geo. III c.cxxxvi), Kirkcaldy Improvement and Water Act 1811 (51 Geo III c.xxxv), Peterhead Water and Improvement Act 1820 (1 Geo. IV c.lxxxvii).
[3] Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV c.46) s.44, s.96.
[4] Burgh Police etc (Scotland) Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c.39); Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c.33).
[5] General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c.101).
[6] Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c.17); Waterworks Clauses Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c.93); for use in local acts, see for example Falkirk & District Water Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c.cxvi).
[7] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo. V c.25).
[8] Public Health (Scotland) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c.101) ss.5-6.
[9] Public Health (Scotland) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c.101) ss.76, 89; Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 50) s.17.
[10] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo. V c.25) s.1; Water (Scotland) Act 1949 (12 & 13 Geo. VI c.31).
[11] Public Health (Scotland) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c.101)
[12] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c.50); Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c.55); Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c.38); Burgh Sewerage Drainage and Water Supply (Scotland) Act 1901 (1 Edw. VII c.24).
[13] Water (Scotland) Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. VI c.42).
[14] Water (Scotland) Act 1967 (c.78).
[15] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c.65).
[16] Public Health (Scotland) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c.101) s.83
[17]River Purification Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 75) s.3.
[18] Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 (c.47).
[19] Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39); Water (Scotland) Act 1980 (c.45).
[20] Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39); Water Industry Act 1999 (c.9).
[21] Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 (2002 asp 3); Water Services etc Scotland Act 20005 (2005 asp 3).