Water Quality Control Plan

(1) In respect of each area declared a Water Quality Control Area, the Authority shall prepare and submit to the Minister for approval a draft Water Quality Control Plan. (2) for the purpose of preparing a draft Water Quality Control Plan in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section, the Authority shall, (a) conduct such studies and investigations and consult with such persons, as it deems necessary, and any body or authority exercising functions in relations to water (b) cause to be published in the Gazette and at least once in each of two successive weeks in a newspaper widely circulating in Belize, a notice indicating the proposals and specifying the time and place at which, and subject to subsection (4) of this section, the period during which, representations may be made in respect of such proposals; and (c) hold such hearings or local inquiries as it considers appropriate. (3) The period specified in a notice pursuant to subsection (2)(b) of this section shall not be less than thirty days commencing on the date on which the notice was first published in such newspaper as aforesaid. (4) The Authority shall prepare the draft Water Quality Control Plan to conform to the Master Plan and shall, (a) prepare an inventory and identify present and anticipated waters in the area; National Integrated 59 (b) prepare an inventory and identify present and anticipated discharges of waste into any waters in the area, on the ground or into the (c) prepare an inventory controlled land uses; (d) identify environmental and scenic values to be protected; (e) fix such ambient water quality standards as will satisfy the needs identified in pursuance of paragraphs (a) and (d) of this subsection; (f) establish critical locations the standards fixed in pursuance of paragraph (e) of this subsection are required to be met; (g) include any other information that the Authority deems fit. (5) In addition to the matters listed in subsection (4) of this section, a draft Water Quality Control Plan shall make provision for, (a) the achievement of the ambient water quality standards fixed in pursuance of subsection (4) (e) of this section including, if appropriate and desirable, a time-table for the scheduled achievement of those standards, if the waters in respect of which ambient water quality standards are in effect fail to meet those standards at such critical locations as are established in pursuance of subsection (4)(f) of this section; and National Integrated 60 (b) the maintenance of such ambient water quality standards as have been fixed in pursuance of subsection (4)(e) of this section, if the waters in respect to which those standards have been fixed meet the standards at such critical locations as are established in pursuance of subsection (4)(f) of this section. (6) If he is satisfied with a draft Water Quality Control Plan, the Minister, (a) shall, by notice published in the Gazette and in one national newspaper declare the Plan to be an approved Water Quality Control Plan and shall specify in such notice the date on which the Water Quality Control Plan shall take effect; (b) shall cause such Plan to be made available to all departments and agencies of Government responsible for administering controlled land uses, to any local authority for the area affected by the Plan, having responsibility for administering controlled land use in that area, and to any other body which the Minister thinks may be affected by the Plan in view of the nature of the activities in which that body is engaged. (7) The Authority may adopt a standard established by the Department of the Environment, which is relevant to subsection (4)(e). (8) In this section “controlled land use” means any use of land and the natural resources therein which is regulated under any of the following statutes, that is to say the, National Integrated 61 (a) Land Utilization Act, Cap. 176; (b) The Forest Act, Cap. 226; (c) Mines and Minerals Act, Cap. 226; (d) Petroleum Act, Cap. 188; (e) Any other enactment in force for the time being, which regulates the development, conservation and use of land and the natural resources therein.