Welsh National Water Development Authority
The Welsh National Water Development Authority (WNWDA) (Awdurdod Cenedlaethol Datblygu Dwr Cymru in Welsh) 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 [1] with its headquarters in Brecon.[2] by virtue of the Water Act 1973[3]
Remit
It brought together all the sewage disposal, sewerage and water supply functions previously held by local authorities in Wales. It also subsumed all the functions of the six River Authorities in Wales - the Wye River Authority, the Usk River Authority, the Glamorgan River Authority, the South West Wales River Authority, the Gwynedd River Authority and the Dee and Clwyd River Authority. The boundary of WNWDA was identical to that of the constituent River Authorities and included parts of England in both the River Wye and River Dee catchments. Private water companies such as Chester Water were excluded and continued in operation.
Organisation
At inception, WNWDA was organised in units that broadly reflected the originating business. Thus sewerage and sewage disposal was organised into a number of Sewage Divisions, water supply was similarly formed into a number of Water Divisions and River Divisions exactly matching the roles and boundaries of the previous River Authorities were created.
In 1984 a major re-structuring brought all the functions together in 3 multidisciplinary Divisions, with a headquarters based in Brecon. These were the South Eastern Division based in Nelson, South Western Division based in Haverfordwest, the Northern Division based in Bangor. There were sub-offices located in Hereford, Swansea and Caernarfon respectively. At the time of this re-organisation the name of the authority changed to Welsh Water Authority.
Governance
The authority was governed by a board which included representatives from Local Authorities, central government and the major industries in Wales including Agriculture. The chairman appointed by the government of the day was Lord Brecon but he was replaced by T.M. Haydn Rees in 1976.[4] and then by John Elfed Jones in 1982.
References
- ↑ "Welsh National Water Development Authority". theyworkforyou.com. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ↑ "Records of Usk Water Authorities". archiveswales.org.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ↑ "Water Act 1973". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1973-07-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-05.
- ↑ National Archives - Papers of T M Haydn Rees