Prior to the reform and restructuring of the water and sewerage sector, which took effect in mid - 2009, the Sewers and Drains Act 1954 imposed a duty on local councils to provide sewerage and stormwater drainage services in urban areas. The Act also provided local councils with the powers they needed to ensure they could discharge that duty.
The sewer related provisions of the Sewers and Drains Act were transferred to the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008, effective on 1 July 2009, and the Sewers and Drains Act was renamed the Drains Act 1954.
At the time of the commencement of the Water and Sewerage Industry Act, the provisions of the Drains Act has not been comprehensively reviewed. A number of the provisions which the Drains Act contained were considered by a number of parties - including local government - to be outdated and in need of review, both in terms of the performance of the Act's intended function and its language.
Consequently, a review of the Drains Act was undertaken by the Urban Water Policy Unit during 2010. A key objective of the review was to ensure that Tasmania has a contemporary legislative framework in place to provide for the management of stormwater in urban areas.
Issues Paper
A review of the Drains Act 1954 was undertaken by the Urban Water Policy Unit.
The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment invited submissions to the Review of the Drains Act from individuals, firms, groups and organisations with an interest in stormwater and on-site waste water management.
The issues and options put forward in the Issues Paper are the outcome of preliminary consultation and research by DPIPWE and canvas a wide range of topics relevant to the future of stormwater management in particular. The Paper provides a series of 'Discussion Points' to highlight the key issues and prompt relevant feedback.
Stakeholders were invited to provide comment on as few or many of these points as they wished, and were asked to comment on or raise any issues that were relevant to the objectives of the Review, but not highlighted in the Discussion Points or the Paper generally.
Appendix 1 of the Issues Paper also provides a section by section breakdown of the Drains Act, including some preliminary observations about possible issues with individual sections.
The period for making representations closed on 2 July 2010.
Review of the Drains Act 1954 - Issues Paper (290 KB)
Drains Act Review Issues Paper - Appendix 1 (255 KB)
Submissions
All submissions received by the Department as part of Review of the Drains Act are published below. However, the copyright in submissions sent to the Department resides with the author(s).
Drains Act Review - Launceston City Council Submission (707 KB)
Drains Act Review - Break O'Day Council Submission (222 KB)
Drains Act Review - Latrobe Council Submission (12 KB)
Drains Act Review - Mr R Rands Submission (16 KB)
Drains Act Review - Southern Water Submission (275 KB)
Drains Act Review - Ms E Jane submission (167 KB)
Drains Act Review - Glenorchy City Council Submission (54 KB)
Drains Act Review - Hobart City Council Submission (341 KB)
Drains Act Review - Launceston Flood Authority Submission (99 KB)
Drains Act Review - NRM South Submission (90 KB)
Drains Act Review - TEER Submission (67 KB)
Drains Act Review - LGAT Submission (277 KB)
Drains Act Review - West Tamar Council Submission (684 KB)
Drains Act Review - Clarence City Council Submission (92 KB)
Summary-Response to Written Submissions
In response to the submissions received as part of the Review of the Drains Act, an Issues - Response Paper was prepared.
The purpose of the paper is to summarise the key issues and suggestions raised through the consultation process.
It should be noted that the Issues - Response Paper only focussed on the issues identified in written submissions and does not attempt to identify all issues with (and potential improvements to) the Drains Act. Some issues identified by the submissions were considered to be outside the scope of the review and therefore not included in the paper.
Drains Act Review - summary and response to written submissions (324 KB)