Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) In this Act,
subject to the context —
adjoining , as applied to pieces of land, extends
to pieces of land which are separated merely by a road or highway, or water
course owned by the Crown;
Corporation means the Water Corporation
established by section 4 of the Water Corporation Act 1995 ;
Crown lands means waste lands of the Crown not
granted or contracted to be granted in fee simple or held or occupied under
conditional terms of purchase or with any right to acquire the fee simple;
district means a drainage district;
drain includes every channel, gutter, ditch,
tunnel, pipe, cutting, or passage on, above, or underground, constructed,
used, or intended to be used for draining or diverting water from land, except
a navigable river, and except a main or branch water-race made for the supply
of any reservoir, dam, or pit for the conservation of water;
former Authority means the Water Authority of
Western Australia under the Water Authority Act 1984 2 before the
commencement of Part 2 of the Water Agencies Restructure (Transitional and
Consequential Provisions) Act 1995 3 ;
former Minister means a Minister administering
this Act before, pursuant to the Water Authority Act 1984 2 , the former
Authority became charged with the administration of functions under this Act,
whether in his capacity as a Minister of the Crown or as (pursuant to
section 2 of the Water Supply, Sewerage, and Drainage Act 1912 as
read with this Act) a body corporate;
main drain means any drain declared by notice in
the Gazette to be a main drain;
officer means a member of the staff of the
Corporation engaged under section 15 of the Water Corporation
Act 1995 ;
ratepayer means the owner of rateable land who is
rated or liable to be rated in respect thereof;
rural land means land —
(a) not
within a townsite; or
(b)
within a townsite but used, or primarily used, for agricultural, pastoral,
grazing, dairying, bee-keeping, orcharding, viticultural, silvicultural, or
other farming purposes, or any combination of those purposes;
townsite means an area that has been, or is to be
regarded as having been, constituted a townsite, and given a name, under
section 10 of the Land Act 1933 4 ;
urban land means land within a townsite other than
rural land;
watercourse means —
(a) any
river, creek, stream or brook, whether artificially improved or altered or
not;
(b) any
conduit that wholly or partially diverts a river, creek, stream or brook from
its natural course and forms part of that river, creek, stream or brook; or
(c) any
natural collection of water into, through, or out of which any thing referred
to in paragraph (a) or (b) flows, whether artificially improved or
altered or not,
in which water flows or is contained whether
permanently, intermittently or occasionally, together with the bed and banks
of any thing referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c);
work or drainage works includes drains,
floodgates, and walls or other defences against water made or used or intended
to be used for draining or diverting water from land, and extends to tunnels,
engines, buildings, pipes, or other things appurtenant thereto or used or
intended to be used in connection therewith.
(2) Terms not
otherwise assigned a meaning under subsection (1) but referred to in
section 3 of the Water Agencies (Powers) Act 1984 as having a
meaning assigned for the purposes of a relevant Act have that meaning in and
for the purposes of this Act.
(3) Other than for the
purposes of section 64, on and after the coming into operation of the
Land Drainage Amendment Act 1994 1 a reference in this Act to rates
imposed under this Act shall be construed as a reference to rates so imposed
prior to the coming into operation of that Act, and cognate words shall be
construed accordingly.
[Section 6 amended by No. 43 of 1941
s. 2; No. 63 of 1981 s. 4; No. 41 of 1983 s. 2;
No. 25 of 1985 s. 220; No. 33 of 1994 s. 4; No. 73 of
1995 s. 75 and 79; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 31 of 1997
s. 61(1).]
[ 7. Deleted by No. 73 of 1995 s. 76.]
[ 8. Deleted by No. 25 of 1985 s. 222.]