ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with pollution of rivers and natural streams; much of the common law applies to pollution of canals and other artificial streams. A new source of pollution has become apparent, namely that caused by the use of pesticides and similar substances on land in the vicinity of a river, which then reach the stream by overflow or borne by surface water. Pollution may be direct, by the discharge or deposit of polluting matter, by seepage from the underground strata, or by run-off and overflow of surface water. Parliament has concerned itself with the prevention of river pollution since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, but the law is contained in the Rivers Acts, 1951 and 1961. The common law provides a useful if expensive ‘longstop’ to the existing statutory controls, available to a particular riparian landowner.
