The ‘Act of 76’ arose out of an inquiry about ‘…how far the present use of rivers or running waters…for the purpose of carrying off the sewage of towns…and the refuse from industrial processes and manufacturers…can be prevented without risk to the public health or serious injury to such processes…and how far such sewage and refuse can be utilized and got rid of otherwise than by discharge into rivers…or rendered harmless before reaching them;…the effect on the drainage of lands and inhabited places of obstructions to the natural flow of rivers or streams caused by mills, weirs, locks, and other navigation works, and into the best means of remedying any evils thence arising.’ With this charge, Victoria, Queen of England, on April 6, 1868, initiated the Royal Commission that brought into being the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act of 1876 [Rivers Pollution Commission, 1870].