Liability and Responsibility for Water Services in Scotland: Who Should Bear the Costs of Reform?

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2023/24 included a consultation on reform to the legislative frameworks for water supply, sewerage and drainage. Despite reforms in the early 2000s, some of the current law dates back several decades, albeit much amended.

Climate change and its impact on water resources is very much a policy focus, in Scotland and across the world, and arguably Scotland’s licensing system for water uses does not provide sufficiently comprehensive information to plan for increasing variability. There is also a steady flow of population from the wetter west coast to the drier east coast; yet many communities also continue to suffer severe flooding. These problems are not unique to Scotland.

The proposals sought views as to how domestic users can be incentivised to use less water; whether there should be new offences in relation to wastewater; how homeowners (and businesses) can be ‘encouraged’ to make use of blue-green infrastructure; how to support owners of private supplies; and how public services should be paid for. The paper will examine the proposals in terms of regulation and of liability, including who should have to pay for such initiatives, and draw lessons that might be useful in other places.