Clause 26 - Claims arising out of water abstraction
Water Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
The clause introduces the right to sue an abstractor who has caused damage, whoever that abstractor is. Abstractors will therefore need to remain alert to the possibility that they are causing harm to others—other abstractors or the environment—if they are to avoid being subject to claims for damages. That ensures that the law relating to water abstraction is consistent with long-established rules in other areas requiring property owners and other occupiers or users of land to respect the interests of neighbours in terms of their water abstraction and the impact on the land. Subsidence could be covered by this, too. That is the intention. The amendment is unnecessary, as legally loss or damage to a person includes that person's property.