59.—(1) The Minister may, for the purposes of environmental protection and, in particular, for the purpose of giving full effect to Council Directive 91/271/EEC¹, make regulations for the collection, treatment, discharge or disposal of sewage or other effluents to waters from—

(a) any plant or drainage pipe vested in or controlled or used by a sanitary authority for the treatment of drinking water, or

(b) any plant, sewer or drainage pipe vested in or controlled or used by a sanitary authority for the treatment and disposal of sewage or other effluents.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations may provide for all or any of the following—

(a) the time within which specified systems or classes of systems for the collection and treatment of sewage effluents shall be provided,

(b) the design, construction and maintenance of collection and treatment systems,

(c) standards or other requirements for effluents specified in subsection (1),

(d) criteria for the designation of areas or classes of areas or waters or classes of waters by such person as may be specified and the times within which such designations shall be made or reviewed for the purposes of subsection (3),

(e) monitoring of sewage or other effluents and of waters to which sewage or other effluents are discharged,

(f) re-use and disposal of effluents.

(3) Standards or other requirements prescribed under subsection (2) may relate to—

(a) all, or specified classes of, or specified volumes of, effluents,

(b) effluents in designated areas or classes of areas or specified plant, sewers or drainage pipes, or specified classes of plant, sewers or drainage pipes, or

(c) effluents discharged to designated waters or classes of waters,

and different standards or other requirements may be prescribed in relation to different effluents or classes of effluents, different areas or classes of areas, different waters or classes of waters or different plant, sewers or drainage pipes or classes of plant, sewers or drainage pipes.

(4) In prescribing standards or other requirements under subsection (2) the Minister shall have regard to any criteria specified and published by the Agency under section 60.

(5) The Minister may make regulations providing for the grant of an authorisation to a sanitary authority by the Agency in respect of the discharge of:

(a) all, or specified classes of, or specified volumes of, effluents,

(b) effluents in designated areas or classes of areas or specified plant, sewers or drainage pipes, or specified classes of plant, sewers or drainage pipes, or

(c) effluents discharged to designated waters or classes of waters,

requiring compliance by such sanitary authority with such standards or other requirements as have been specified under subsection (2) (c).

(6) Where a standard or other requirement is prescribed under subsection (2), the sanitary authority shall, where necessary, take steps as soon as is practicable, or within such period as may be prescribed for compliance with such standard or other requirement, to ensure that the said effluent complies with the standard or other requirement.

(7) It shall be a good defence to a prosecution for an offence under any enactment other than this Act that the act constituting the alleged offence was in compliance with a standard or other requirement specified under subsection (2) (c) or an authorisation granted under this section.

(8) Section 26 of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977, is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

F71[(9) In this section a reference to a sanitary authority shall be construed, subject to the discretion of the Minister in relation to regulations under subsection (5), as including a reference to any person acting on behalf of or jointly with a sanitary authority.]