A private water supply (PWS) is any water supply which is not provided by a water company. It is not a "mains" supply. About 1% of the population of England and Wales have private water supplies to their homes. Most private supplies are found in the more remote, rural parts of the country. The source of the supply may be a well, a borehole, spring, stream, river, lake or a pond. The supply may serve just one property or it may provide water to several properties through a network of pipes.
The Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009 came into force on the 1st January 2010 and apply to all private water supplies intended for human consumption. This means the regulations apply to water used for domestic purposes (eg. drinking, cooking, food preparation and washing) and water used for commercial purposes.
Under the Water Industry Act 1991 we have a duty to monitor all PWS supplies in our area. The PWS Regulations 2009 divide private water supplies into 3 categories for this purpose:
Commercial or large supplies:
These supplies are any premises that uses the water in a commercial business or a domestic supply that uses more than 10 cubic meters a day which equates to 50 or more people.
All commercial or large supplies must be sampled at least once a year. The frequency of sampling will increase if a larger amount of water is used. These supplies will be sampled for the basic check and audit monitoring criteria listed below. Additional samples may be taken based on past information on the supply and the results of the risk assessment.
- Escherichia coli (E. coli)
- Enterococci
- Clostridium perfringens (including spores)
- Coliform bacteria
- Aluminium
- Ammonium
- Arsenic
- Colour
- Conductivity
- Hydrogen ion concentration
- Iron
- Lead
- Manganese
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Odour
- Taste
- Turbidity
- Colony Count 37ºC
- Colony Count 22ºC
Small Supplies:
These supplies are where there is only domestic use and the water used is less than 10 cubic meters a day or there are under 50 people using the supply. As a minimum, all small supplies must be sampled at least once every 5 years for basic domestic criteria in the list below. Additional samples may be taken based on historical information on the supply and the results of the risk assessment.
- Escherichia coli (E. coli)
- Total Coliforms
- Enterococci
- Conductivity
- Hydrogen ion concentration
- Turbidity
Single Dwellings:
These are supplies where there is only one single domestic dwelling using the water. There is no requirement to sample or risk assess these supplies. We will only undertake sampling and a risk assessment if requested to do so by the owner or occupier.
Please note: All costs will be chargeable to the person who requests the sampling or risk assessment. Appropriate action will be taken on the findings of the sampling and/or risk assessment.
Risk Assessments
Under the Private Water Regulations 2009, all supplies except single domestic dwellings must be risk assessed within 5 years of the regulations coming into force and every 5 years after that. Risk assessments are designed to work along side the sampling programme to identify where, if necessary, improvements can be made to the supply and as a worst case scenario, to identify whether there is a risk that the water is a potential danger to human health.
A programme of sampling and risk assessments is underway and notification will be sent out to the relevant people when one is due to be undertaken.
When a council officer carries out a risk assessment, a knowledgeable person from the supply site should be present, as this will allow the water to be assessed fully and quickly, saving time and costs for both the supply and the council.
If the Food and health department has not contacted you in the past it is likely that we are not aware of your PWS. If this is the case please contact us so we can add you to the sampling and risk assessment programme. Our contact details are shown in the "Contacts" section below.
Failures:
If our sampling or risk assessment highlights a failure on the supply that could be a potential danger to human health, we must serve a legal notice (regulation 18 of the PWS Regulations 2009). The purpose of the notice and subsequent action is to ensure that all consumers are aware of the failures that have been found and action is taken to remedy the situation. If the situation allows it, we will try and deal with the issues in an informal manner before legal notices are served.
Where a failure occurs on a supply which does not meet the required values for each criteria listed in the regulations we will encourage informal action to be taken by the supply owner or relevant people. Where the failure is not remedied, we must serve a section 80 notice (water industry Act 1991). The purpose of this notice and subsequent action is to ensure that all consumers are aware of the failures, any advice provided are the requirements necessary to improve and remedy the failure.
Fees and Charges
The regulations state that all monitoring, sampling and risk assessments and later investigations are all chargeable to the owner, responsible person (or people) and occupiers. The fees apply to all supplies including single supplies carried out upon request.
The tables below are examples of the charges that may be applied:
| Activity |
Maximum Charge Permitted |
Example Charging Scheme |
Comments
|
| Risk Assessment |
£500 |
Hourly rate X time taken |
£35 per hour.
Typically 4-8 hours
|
| Sampling |
£100 |
£100 plus analytical costs
|
Charges include travel, taking sample, processing results, correspondence and basic investigations. |
| Investigation |
£100 |
£100 plus analytical costs |
Carried out as a result of a failure of sampling, risk assessment, complaints etc.
|
| Authorisation |
£100 |
£100 |
Application by the owner of a supply for permission to breach a standard temporarily whist remedial work is carried out. |
| Analysis |
Maximum Charge Permitted |
Example Charging Scheme |
Comments
|
| Under Regulation 10 (Domestic Supplies) |
£25 |
£17 |
Where a supply provides less than 10 cubic meters per day or water for less than 50 people and is used for domestic purposes
|
| Check Monitoring (Commercial Supplies) |
£100 |
£57.50 |
Check monitoring is carried out to ensure that water complies with the standards. Where possible it should be carried out at the same time as any requirements for audit monitoring, to keep costs down.
|
| Audit Monitoring (Commercial Supplies) |
£500 |
£61.50 plus additional parameters as highlighted on the risk assessment |
Additional criteria sampled less often to ensure the water complies with all safety standards. Additional criteria may be added from the findings of the risk assessment (example: bromate and THM’s if the supply uses chlorine as a residual treatment. The approximate cost would be an extra £50.) |
Contacts and additional information
If you have any queries regarding private water supplies please contact our Food and health team on 0113 247 6286 or email us at:
health.surveillance@leeds.gov.uk
Further details about private water supplies are available from Defra and from www.privatewatersupplies.gov.uk