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LIABILITY FOR WATER FLOWS
Water which flows from one property onto another may cause damage. The Water Act covers three situations where damage is caused.
First, if water flows from one property to another and:
- the flow is not reasonable;
- the water causes injury to a person or damage to the property of a person or causes any person to suffer economic loss; then the person who causes the flow is liable for damages.
Second, if a person interferes with the reasonable flow of water or negligently interferes with an unreasonable flow of water and if as a result of the interference causes:
- injury to a person;
- damage to the property of a person or causes a person to suffer economic loss; then the person who interfered with the flow is liable to damages.
Third, if the cause of a flow of water or the interference with the flow of water was caused by anything done before the current occupier became the current occupier.
- then the current occupier is liable for damage for the injury damage or loss if the current occupier has failed to take any steps reasonably available to prevent the causing of the flow or the interference with it.
The provisions of the Act may well be only a starting point in establishing liability. Liability may in the case of Strata Titles depend on establishing where an owners title ends and where there common property begins. There may be questions of liability of drainage authorities. There may be a question of what is “reasonable”. But, the Act provides a clear starting point.
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