Severn Trent Water Authority

It assumed the powers and responsibilities of existing water supply authorities in those catchment areas, the Severn River Authority, the Trent River Authority and the sewage and sewage disposal responsibilities of the councils within its area.

[2] In July 1989, the authority was partly privatised under the Water Act 1989, together with most of the rest of the water supply and sewage disposal industry in England and Wales, to form Severn Trent Water, with a responsibility to supply freshwater and treat sewage for around 8 million people living in the Midlands of England and also a small area of Wales.

[2] The remaining regulatory and control functions such as pollution control, flood prevention and water resource management were subsumed into the newly formed National Rivers Authority.

The water authority took over the following public-sector bulk water suppliers: It took over the following main drainage authorities, which were joint boards set up to deal with the main sewerage and sewage treatment in their respective areas: It took over two river authorities, responsible for control of water pollution, water resource management and flood prevention: The authority also took over the functions responsible for sewerage and sewage disposal from all local authorities, including main drainage authorities, within its area; however, section 15 of the Water Act 1973 allowed district (but not county) councils to enter into agency agreements with water authorities whereby the district councils became their "agents" for the maintenance and design and construction of new sewers.

These included: It also operated the filtration works at the Elan Valley Reservoirs It also had abstraction licences for river abstractions which included operating rules linked to storage at both Clywedog reservoir and Lake Vyrnwy although no water from those reservoirs was directly piped to supply.