Thames Water Authority
The Thames Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities created in the UK on 1 April 1974 under the provisions of the Water Act 1973 to bring together all the water management functions of the region in one public body.
The bodies subsumed included the Metropolitan Water Board, the Thames Conservancy, the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board and parts of the Essex River Authority 'the drainage of which is directed to the Thames above the point where the western boundary of the catchment area of the Mar Dyke meets the Thames' and the Kent River Authority 'the drainage of which is directed to the Thames above Greenhithe', which had formerly regulated parts of the north and south banks of the River Thames estuary.
In 1989 the Thames Water Authority was partly privatised, under the provisions of the Water Act 1989 with the water and sewage responsibilities transferring to the newly established publicly quoted company of Thames Water, and the regulatory responsibilities transferring to the newly created National Rivers Authority.
