North West Water was a water supply, sewage disposal and sewage treatment company serving North West England. It was established as the North West Water Authority in 1973, and became North West Water plc in 1989, as part of the privatisation of the water industry in England and Wales. In 1995, it merged with NORWEB (the former North Western Electricity Board) to form United Utilities. [1] [2]
The North West Water Authority was one of ten regional authorities created by the Water Act 1973. It was formed from the merger of statutory water undertakings, local sewerage boards and three river authorities, these being the Mersey and Weaver River Authority, the Lancashire River Authority and the Cumberland River Authority.
The water undertakings subsumed into North West Water authority included: [3]
Municipal corporations
Water boards
The sewage treatment, sewerage and water supply and distribution arms of the authority were privatised in July 1989, becoming North West Water plc. The remaining regulatory functions of the authority, including pollution prevention, fisheries management, flood control, water resource management and a number of other ancillary functions, were transferred to the newly formed National Rivers Authority.
The water supply sewage disposal and sewerage assets, which were previously held by the water authority and covered some 56,000 hectares (220 sq miles), were transferred to North West Water at privatisation.
The National Rivers Authority (NRA) was one of the forerunners of the Environment Agency of England and Wales, existing between 1989 and 1996.
United Utilities Group plc (UU), the United Kingdom's largest listed water company, was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West England, which includes Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, most of Cheshire and a small area of Derbyshire, which have a combined population of more than seven million.
The Water Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised the water, sewage and river management industry in England and Wales. Water supply and sewage disposal were removed from local authority control, and ten larger regional water authorities were set up, under state control based on the areas of super-sets of river authorities which were also subsumed into the new authorities. Each regional water authority consisted of members appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment, and by the various local authorities in its area.
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately half of this area. Some areas within the Southern Water region are supplied by a number of smaller water supply companies. Southern Water supplies an area totalling 4,450 sq. km. and serves 2.26 million customers.
The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) was a public utility board in Melbourne, Australia, set up in 1891 to provide water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment functions for the city. In 1992, the MMBW was merged with a number of smaller urban water authorities to form Melbourne Water. MMBW was abolished in 1992.
South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Devon and Cornwall and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset. South West Water was created in 1989 with the privatisation of the water industry. It was preceded by the South West Water Authority which was formed by the Water Act 1973 as one of ten regional water authorities formed by a merger of various statutory and local authority water undertakings. South West Water is part of the Pennon Group.
A water board is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level, water charging and financing at the river basin level (France), bulk water supply, regulation of pricing and service quality of drinking water supply at the national level (Kenya) or the coordination of water resources policies between various Ministries and agencies at the national level together with the regulation of drinking water supply.
The utility infrastructure of London, England comprises a range of services and facilities that support and enable the functioning of London as a world city. Infrastructure includes facilities associated with products and materials that are consumed such as electricity, gas, water, heating and liquid fuels; materials that are produced such as sewage and solid waste; and facilities that enable communication and connectivity – telecommunications.
Upper Roddlesworth Reservoir is a reservoir on the River Roddlesworth near Abbey Village in Lancashire, England.
The water privatisation in England and Wales involved the transfer of the provision of water and wastewater services in England and Wales from the state to the private sector in 1989, through the sale of the ten regional water authorities (RWA). The potable water supply as well as the sewerage and sewage disposal functions of each RWA were transferred to privately-owned companies.
Severn Trent Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities established in 1974. Its area of operation was the catchments of the River Trent and River Severn. It assumed the powers and responsibilities of existing water supply authorities in those catchment areas, the Severn River Authority, the Trent River Authority and the sewage and sewage disposal responsibilities of the councils within its area.
The Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority was the statutory board responsible for water supply and sewage disposal in the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1972 as the 'Isle of Man Water Authority' by the merger of the Isle of Man Water Board and the Water Department of Douglas Corporation. In 1974 it took over the gas production and distribution functions of the Isle of Man Gas Authority, and was renamed the 'Isle of Man Water and Gas Authority'. In 1985 the gas undertaking was privatised, and the authority reverted to its original title. It was renamed the 'Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority' in 2010, taking over the sewerage responsibilities of the former Department of Transport.
The City of Nottingham Water Department (1912–1974), formerly the Nottingham Corporation Water Department (1880–1912), was responsible for the supply of water to Nottingham from 1880 to 1974. The first water supply company in the town was the Nottingham Waterworks Company, established in 1696, which took water from the River Leen, and later from springs at Scotholme, when the river became polluted. Other companies were set up in the late 18th century and in 1824, while in 1826 the Trent Water Company was established. They employed Thomas Hawksley as their engineer, who became one of the great water engineers of the period, and Nottingham had the first constant pressurised water supply system in the country. The various companies amalgamated in 1845, and Hawksley remained as the consulting engineer until 1879.
A regional water authority, commonly known as a water board, was one of a group of public bodies that came into existence in England and Wales in April 1974, as a result of the Water Act 1973 coming into force. This brought together in ten regional units a diverse range of bodies involved in water treatment and supply, sewage disposal, land drainage, river pollution and fisheries. They lasted until 1989, when the water industry was privatised and the water supply and sewerage and sewage disposal parts became companies and the regulatory arm formed the National Rivers Authority. Regional water authorities were also part of the Scottish water industry when three bodies covering the North, West and East of Scotland were created in 1996, to take over responsibilities for water supply and sewage treatment from the regional councils, but they only lasted until 2002, when they were replaced by the publicly owned Scottish Water.
The Welsh National Water Development Authority (WNWDA) and later the Welsh Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities set up in the UK and came into existence on 6 August 1973 with its headquarters in Brecon. by virtue of the Water Act 1973 It took over the sewerage and sewage disposal responsibilities of the local authorities within its area, the roles and responsibilities of the six existing River Authorities in Wales and most of the water supply undertakings. The authority was dissolved in 1989 as part of the privatisation of the water industry.
Anglian Water Authority was formed in 1974 by virtue of the Water Act 1973 as one of the regional water authorities. It established its headquarters in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The authority boundary was the pre-existing boundaries of the constituent river authorities whose total area made Anglian Water Authority the largest of the ten newly created Authorities. It subsumed the roles and responsibilities of:
The Electricity Act 1989 provided for the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Great Britain, by replacing the Central Electricity Generating Board in England and Wales and by restructuring the South of Scotland Electricity Board and the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board. The Act also established a licensing regime and a regulator for the industry called the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER), which has since become the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM).
The Water Act 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised the bodies responsible for all aspects of water within England and Wales. Whereas previous legislation, particularly the Water Act 1973, had focused on providing a single unifying body with responsibility for all water-related functions within a river basin or series of river basins, this legislation divided those functions up again, with water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal being controlled by private companies, and the river management, land drainage and pollution functions becoming the responsibility of the National Rivers Authority.
Liverpool Corporation Waterworks and its successors have provided a public water supply and sewerage and sewage treatment services to the city of Liverpool, England. In 1625 water was obtained from a single well and delivered by cart, but as the town grew, companies supplied water to homes through pipes. There were two main companies by the 1840s, but the water supply was intermittent, and there was general dissatisfaction with the service. Liverpool Corporation decided that such an important service should be provided by a public body, and sought to take over the water supply companies.
The Manx Utilities Authority is a Statutory Board of the Isle of Man Government which provides utilities for the Isle of Man. It was created in 2014 by the merging of the Manx Electricity Authority with the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority.
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