Sewerage and Drainage Act
(CHAPTER 294)

(Original Enactment: Act 10 of 1999)

REVISED EDITION 2001
(31st December 2001)
An Act to provide for and regulate the construction, maintenance, improvement, operation and use of sewerage and land drainage systems, to regulate the discharge of sewage and trade effluent and for matters connected therewith.
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
[1st April 1999]
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Sewerage and Drainage Act.
Interpretation
2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“authorised officer” means any person appointed as an authorised officer under section 3(2);
“Board” means the Public Utilities Board continued under section 3 of the Public Utilities Act (Cap. 261);
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
“building” has the same meaning as in the Building Control Act (Cap. 29);
“competent authority” means an authority appointed under section 5 of the Planning Act (Cap. 232);
“drain” includes any canal, culvert, conduit, river or watercourse;
“drain-line” means any pipe or sewer which is connected to the sewerage system of any premises;
“drainage reserve” means any land set aside for drainage works pursuant to development proposals approved by a competent authority;
“drainage works” includes any engineering works for the construction, alteration and maintenance of any storm water drainage system;
“fittings” means any apparatus or parts used for any sanitary facility or drain-line of any premises;
“industrial water” means any water reclaimed from the sewage treatment works for use in industries that do not require high grade potable water;
“Magistrate’s Court limit” has the same meaning as in the Subordinate Courts Act (Cap. 321);
“occupier”, in relation to any premises, includes any person having the charge, management or control of the premises or any part thereof;
“owner”, in relation to —
(a)any premises, includes the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee or as receiver, or who would receive the rent if the premises were let to a tenant, and the person whose name is entered in the Valuation List authenticated under section 15 of the Property Tax Act (Cap. 254);
(b)the common property of any building erected on land comprised in a strata subdivision plan approved by the competent authority, includes the management corporation having control of the building, and a managing agent appointed by a management corporation or by the Commissioner of Buildings under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004, and a liquidator appointed for that management corporation; and
[47/2004 wef 01/04/2005]
(c)the limited common property of any building erected on land comprised in a strata subdivision plan approved by the competent authority, includes the subsidiary management corporation having control of that limited common property, and a managing agent appointed by a subsidiary management corporation or by the Commissioner of Buildings under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004, and a liquidator appointed for that subsidiary management corporation;
[47/2004 wef 01/04/2005]
“premises” includes messuages, houses, buildings, lands, tenements, easements and hereditaments of any tenure, whether open or enclosed, whether built or not, whether public or private, and whether maintained under statutory authority or not;
“public sewerage system” includes —
(a)sewerage systems which were vested in the Government before 1st April 1999 under the repealed Water Pollution Control and Drainage Act (Cap. 348, 1985 Ed.) or any other written law;
(b)sewerage systems with respect to which a declaration of vesting has been made under section 8;
(c)sewerage systems constructed by the Government or the Board on behalf of the Government on any private property at the expense of the Government or acquired by the Government;
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
(d)sewerage systems constructed on any private property and maintained by the Board; and
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
(e)sewerage systems owned or managed by the Board;
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
“public sewers” includes —
(a)sewers which were vested in the Government before 1st April 1999 under the repealed Water Pollution Control and Drainage Act or any other written law;
(b)sewers with respect to which a declaration of vesting has been made under section 9;
(c)sewers constructed by the Government or the Board on behalf of the Government on any private property at the expense of the Government or acquired by the Government; and
(d)sewers constructed on any private property and maintained by the Board;
“qualified person”, in relation to any sewerage or drainage works, means a qualified person appointed under section 8 or 11 of the Building Control Act (Cap. 29) in respect of works which include the sewerage or drainage works, and whose qualification is appropriate to the nature of those works;
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
“reclaimed water” means treated water which has been recovered from a public sewerage system;
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
“Registrar of Deeds” means the Registrar of Deeds appointed under the Registration of Deeds Act (Cap. 269);
“Registrar of Titles” means the Registrar of Titles appointed under the Land Titles Act (Cap. 157);
“sanitary appliances” includes wash basins, bath tubs, sinks, urinals, toilet bowls, bidets and other similar fixtures;
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
“sanitary facilities” includes bathrooms, toilets, facilities for washing and sanitary appliances, together with the associated pipe-work, whether above or below the ground, which connect, directly or otherwise, to a private sewage treatment plant or a public sewerage system;
“sewage” includes water-borne domestic waste and trade effluent;
“sewerage system” means a system of sewers, pumping stations, sewage treatment plants, sewage treatment works and water reclamation facilities for one or both of the following purposes:
(a)the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage;
(b)the recovery and treatment of water which is supplied to the Board or by the Board,
and includes any main or pipe carrying reclaimed water or sewage, outfall pipe, sanitary pipe, drain-line, grease trap, cesspit, holding tank for the temporary holding of sewage, septic tank, privy, and any part thereof;
[Act 10 of 2012 wef 01/09/2012]
“sewerage works” includes engineering works for the construction, alteration and maintenance of any sewerage system;
“storm water” means rainwater and surface water but does not include sewage;
“storm water drainage system” means a system of drains for the conveyance or storage of storm water and includes —
(a)any weir, grating, float, boom, gauge, tidegate, sump, storage pond, pumping station, maintenance access, and debris interception and removal facility related to such system;
(b)any structure constructed to convey, store or measure storm water or for flood alleviation; and
(c)any bridge over or railing for any such drain or any appurtenance thereof;
“temporary building” has the same meaning as in the Building Control Act (Cap. 29);
“Town Council” means any Town Council established under section 4 of the Town Councils Act (Cap. 329A);
“trade effluent” means any liquid, including particles of matter and other substances in suspension in the liquid, which is the outflow from any trade, business or manufacture or of any works of engineering or building construction;
“works” has the same meaning as “building works” in the Building Control Act (Cap. 29) and includes sewerage works, drainage works and the construction and alteration of sanitary facilities.