Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) Any person
who —
(a) for
the purpose of taking water in a manner not authorised by this
Act —
(i)
uses in, places upon or attaches to the land or permits
or suffers to be so used, placed, or attached any fitting, instrument or thing
not authorised by this Act or by the Corporation; or
(ii)
alters, misuses, injures or removes any authorised
fitting, except for the purpose of necessary repair;
(b)
causes or permits or suffers any pipe, receptacle, fitting or other apparatus
used in connection with the supply of water to him by the Corporation to be
out of repair without repairing it within a reasonable time, or to be so used
or contrived that the water supplied is or is likely to be wasted, misused,
unduly consumed, or contaminated, or so as to allow the return of foul air or
any noisome or impure matter into a pipe belonging to the Corporation or
connected with any such pipe;
(c) not
being authorised by the Corporation —
(i)
wilfully or carelessly breaks, injures, opens or shuts or
wilfully permits or suffers to be broken, injured, open or shut, any lock,
sluice, cock, valve, meter, pipe or other authorised fitting or any work
belonging to the Corporation; or
(ii)
flushes or draws off water from any water works of the
Corporation; or
(iii)
does any other wilful act, or permits or suffers to be
done any act whereby the water is wasted;
(ca) not
being authorised by the Minister, diverts water from any watercourse or source
of supply within any catchment area or water reserve or does any act whereby
the watercourse or source of supply may be diverted or diminished in quantity
or injured in quality or purity;
(d) uses
or consumes or permits or suffers to be used or consumed any water contrary to
the provisions of this Act or the by-laws thereunder,
shall be guilty of an
offence.
Penalty: For an
individual — $10 000.
For a body
corporate — $20 000.
(2) If a person is
convicted of an offence against this section or section 46, the court
sentencing the person for the offence may make an order requiring the person
to pay to the Corporation or the Minister, as the case requires, the
reasonable costs of and incidental to any measurement, testing, analysis or
other matter undertaken in connection with the investigation of the offence
and the provision of evidence.
(3) The amount payable
under an order —
(a) is
to be fixed by the court; and
(b) may
be recovered as a debt due in a court of competent jurisdiction.
(3a) An order does not
affect any civil remedy the Corporation or the Crown may have against the
person convicted.
(3b) An order is in
addition to any compensation order made by the court under Part 16 of the
Sentencing Act 1995 .
(3c) For the purposes
of making a compensation order under Part 16 of the
Sentencing Act 1995 against a person convicted of an offence against this
section or section 46, the value of any water unlawfully taken, wasted,
misused, unduly consumed, contaminated or diverted is to be determined on the
basis of the charge that would have been payable for the water under the
Water Agencies (Powers) Act 1984 if the water had been lawfully taken or
used.
(4) When any water
supplied under this Act has been wasted, misused or unduly consumed, the
Corporation may recover the value thereof as a debt due to him by the person
who wasted, misused or unduly consumed the water, and the remedy given by this
section shall be additional to any other remedy which the Corporation may have
under this or any other Act or law, and shall not affect the liability to any
penalty which the person has incurred.
(5) In this section,
unless the contrary intention appears —
order means an order under subsection (2).
[Section 45 amended by No. 41 of 1984
s. 18; No. 25 of 1985 s. 104 and 114; No. 110 of 1985
s. 45; No. 73 of 1995 s. 54 and 63; No. 32 of 1997
s. 4; No. 38 of 2007 s. 15 and 23.]