Private water supplies and distribution

Advice for people with a private water supply

What is a private water supply?

In Colchester, a private water supply is any supply that is not provided by Veolia, Essex and Suffolk Water or Anglian Water. The source of water may be from a well, borehole or spring.

What is a private distribution network?

A private distribution network exists where a water undertaker such as Essex and Suffolk Water supply water up to the boundary of a property where it is then further distributed by a third party to others on a site. An example would be a caravan site.

What you need to do

You must ensure that your supply is registered with us. Please complete the form or call 01206 282837 to register.

Risk assessment

We are required to carry out the risk assessments and to monitor your supply.

You are responsible for your supply, please call on 01206 282837 to arrange an appointment or to request further information.

Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009

Private water supplies are very vulnerable to contamination and these regulations seek to ensure that private water supplies and private distribution networks provide water that is safe and wholesome.

To do this they:

• impose duties upon a local authority to monitor supplies and carry out risk assessments.
• stipulate the frequency of monitoring and the parameters to be tested.
• require local authorities to carry out investigations and take action when supplies fail to meet the required standards.
• require the local authority to keep a register of all private water supplies and private distribution networks in its area.
• allow councils to recover the cost of the work they carry out. 

Private water sampling charges	2020/21 charges excl. VAT	2020/21 charges incl. VAT
First risk assessment	£416.67	£500
Second and subsequent risk assessments		£200 for 4 hours and then £50 for every additional hour
Sampling (initial visit & revisit)	£83.33	£100
Concession - sampling fee for residents living in a single dwelling who receive a means-tested benefit or Universal Credit which includes free prescriptions	Free	Free
Analysis of water samples		Any charges for the analysis of samples will be recovered at cost

 

Risk assessments and monitoring (analysing a sample)

Foremost, there is a need to comply with the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009. These regulations implement EU Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Before these regulations were introduced, a private water supply may have been sampled just once a year. Factors such as the weather may have influenced the result and so it is thought to be an unreliable approach to ensuring water safety.

You may not be aware that your supply has become contaminated. Contamination can be bacteriological such as from raw sewage or chemical such as from fertiliser run of. These may cause illness, especially to vulnerable people, young children and visitors and it is the owner's responsibility to ensure their supply is kept safe.

The new regulations seek to achieve a multi-layer approach in ensuring water safety. A risk assessment will look at the whole system. It looks at the catchment, through the distribution and storage systems, at any disinfection apparatus and finally to the tap. Its purpose is to establish whether there is a significant risk of supplying water that would constitute a potential danger to human health.

How frequently must risk assessments be carried out?

All private water supplies (except those to a single dwelling not used for commercial activity) must now carry out a risk assessment every 5 years.

How often does a supply need to be monitored?

How often a supply needs to be monitored depends upon the classification of the supply.

Those which are:

• using 10m3 per day or more (large supplies)
• supplied for use in a commercial activity or
• supplied to public premises

will require:

• audit-monitoring, which is used to assess the risk from a comprehensive set of parameters
• check monitoring, which is used to test for fewer but important parameters

The frequency of these monitoring types depends upon the volume of water used per day.

Other private supplies are required to be monitored for five basic parameters plus any others that are thought to be necessary from the risk assessment. The monitoring must take place every 5 years or more frequently if the risk assessment determines it to be necessary.

Single dwellings not used for any commercial activity

These properties will only be risk assessed and or sampled at the owner's request.