The 1973 act was another step towards an integrated policy of water management, which like much of the previous legislation, was restricted to England and Wales, with
Northern Ireland and
Scotland being specifically excluded. The concept of a unified authority with responsibility for all of the water-related functions within a
river basin or series of river basins was not new. The
6th Duke of Richmond introduced a river conservancy
bill into Parliament in 1878, and the Council of the
Society of Arts was prepared to award medals to those who could devise suitable watershed districts to aid such conservancy. Frederick Toplis received a silver medal for his plan to create 12 watershed districts, each run by commissioners, who would have powers to acquire all of the waterworks within their area, and to manage both them and the rivers for water supply and the prevention of flooding and pollution. He saw the need for each to be supported by competent legal advisers and engineers. His watershed districts were remarkably similar to the water authorities created under the 1973 A act, but quite different to those of the other five entrants whose plans were also published at the time. The only bodies which were responsible for a range of water management functions were the
Thames Conservancy, created in 1857, and the
Lee Conservancy Board, created in 1868. The first moves towards more widespread management of river basins in England and Wales were enshrined in the
Land Drainage Act 1930, which although primarily concerned with land drainage to prevent flooding, created
catchment boards. These were responsible for the management of
main rivers, and each was based around a river basin or group of river basins. Because of the emphasis on land drainage, they did not cover the whole of England and Wales, but this changed in 1948, when the
River Boards Act 1948 created 32
river boards. They inherited the powers of the catchment boards where they existed, and took over responsibility for flood prevention from local authorities where they did not. The river boards had additional responsibilities concerning fisheries, the prevention of pollution and the
gauging of rivers, to record flows and levels. They were in turn replaced by 27
river authorities following the passing of the
Water Resources Act 1963, each with additional duties to monitor water quality and protect water resources. In parallel with these developments, the
Water Act 1945 had marked the start of a national water supply policy. It had recognised the need for central government to supervise the statutory suppliers of water, and to be involved in the difficult issues of water supply. It had also recognised that the supply of water to non-domestic consumers was part of an integrated policy, and had introduced the concept of abstraction licensing. In many areas, pollution of rivers by sewage was a serious problem, resulting from rapid expansion of population, and little incentive to invest in
sewage treatment works. The
Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act 1951 introduced discharge licensing, and with extra powers from a similar Act of 1961, tried to encourage local authorities to invest more in such works, but the Working Party on Sewage Disposal, which reported in 1970, concluded that there were over 3,000 sewage treatment works which were performing inadequately. ==List of water authorities==