PART 1 PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Quality of Bathing Water Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 and come into operation in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (6).

(2) Regulations 1- 6, regulation 19, paragraph 2 (1) (a) of Schedule 3 and regulation 8 insofar as it relates to that paragraph, come into operation on 30^th June 2008.

(3) Regulation 7 comes into operation on 24^th March 2011.

(4) Subject to paragraph (6), regulations 8 to10, 11(1) (a) and (5), 13, 15 to 18 and 20 come into operation on 24^th March 2012.

(5) The remainder of regulation 11 and regulations 12 and 14 come into operation on 24^th March 2015.

(6) Sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1) of regulation 9, regulation 10 insofar as it relates to that sub-paragraph and regulation 21 come into operation on 30^th September 2015.

Interpretation

2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (3) applies to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(2) In these Regulations—

“abnormal situation” means an event or combination of events impacting on bathing water quality which the Department would not expect to occur, on average, more than once every four years;

“bathing season” means the period determined by the Department under regulation 4;

“bathing water” means a surface water specified in Schedule 1;

“Bathing Water Directive” means Directive 2006/7/EC (4) of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC (5);

“bathing water operator” means any person who controls the land immediately adjacent to a bathing water which is normally used to access the bathing water from the landward side and where the bathing water is tidal, the person who controls such land above the high water mark;

“bathing water profile” means the profile established under regulation 7;

“bathing water quality assessment” means the assessment carried out by the Department under regulation 11;

“cyanobacterial proliferation” means the accumulation of cyanobacteria in the form of a bloom, mat or scum;

“Department” means the Department of the Environment;

“Departmental management measures” means measures taken by the Department—

“management measures” means Departmental management measures or operator management measures;

“operator management measures” means measures taken by a bathing water operator—

“permanent advice against bathing” means advice issued, in relation to at least one whole bathing season, under regulation 12(2);

“relevant procedures for short-term pollution” means the following procedures for identifying the causes of, predicting and dealing with short-term pollution—

“set of bathing water quality data” means data obtained from results of samples taken under Part 1 of Schedule 3;

“short-term pollution” means contamination by Intestinal enterococci or Escherichia coli where the Department—

“surface water”, “groundwater”, “inland water”, “coastal water” and “transitional waters” have the same meaning as in the Water Framework Regulations;

“vicinity of the bathing water” means a position near to the bathing water, at a place likely to be noticed by persons as they make use of or enter onto the bathing water and, where the bathing water is tidal, higher than the High Spring Tide mark; and

“Water Framework Regulations” means the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003(6).

(3) In the following regulations, namely—

(a) regulation 5(4)

(b) regulation 10(2)(b),

(c) regulation 12(2),

(d) regulation 13(1) and (2),

(e) regulation 14(a),

(f) regulation 16; and

(g) paragraph 10(2) of Part 4 of Schedule 3,

references to a bathing water operator do not include the Department in its capacity as such.

(4) Expressions used in these Regulations and not otherwise defined shall have the same meaning in these Regulations as they have in the Bathing Water Directive.