§ `.—(1) Part I of this Act shall have effect for the purpose of establishing as separate functions the preservation of the environment in respect of rivers, and the supply of water and sewerage services.
§ (2) Functions relating to the preservation of the environment in respect of rivers and other water resources in England and Wales shall from the transfer date be the responsibility of the body created under section 1(1) below.
§ (3) Functions relating to the supply of water and of sewerage services in an area shall, in accordance with transfer arrangements under section 3 below, become from the transfer date the responsibility of any water or sewerage undertaker appointed for that area in accordance with section 10(1) below.
§ (4) The body established under section 1 below shall not sub-contract, or otherwise cause or enable to be carried out, 966 any of its functions to any person who is for the time being, or has been in the previous five years, a water or sewerage undertaker within the terms of this section.
§ (5) Where the body established under section 1 below intends to cause or enable any of its functions to be carried out by another person, whether by means of tender or otherwise, it shall first give reasonable notice to such local authority or authorities as the case may be within whose area or areas the proposed activity falls for the purpose of according them the oppportunity of carrying out that activity."