West Dorset District Council private water supplies

Information on what private water supplies are and ways they are tested.

What is a private water supply?

A private water supply is one which is not provided by a water company. Approximately 1% of the population in England and Wales has a private water supply to their homes. Most private water supplies are in rural locations and are from wells, boreholes, springs or streams. In West Dorset there are over 500 such supplies.

What are the implications of the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009?

The new Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009 cover all private water supplies and private distributions systems. They came into effect in January 2010 and look to further safeguard public health by ensuring that supplies are safe to drink. The inspection and sample regime that councils have to undertake has been significantly increased.

Private water supplies are categorised into four groups:

Single private dwellings.
Small domestic supplies supplying fewer than 50 people.
Large domestic supplies supplying over 50 people or serving commercial premises, including B&B's and holiday lets.
Private distribution systems where mains water is then used to supply a number of properties, including caravan parks.

Risk assessments and sampling requirements

The regulations require the council to carry out a risk assessment of private water supplies every five years. This involves surveying the supply to identify potential contamination from the source to the consumer's tap, identifying possible prevention measures and treatment options. This will identify which parameters need to be sampled for when testing the water supply. We have five years to complete the initial risk assessments for all small and large water supplies as well as private distribution systems.

Single Private Dwellings: Single private dwellings will not require routine monitoring or a risk assessment. However, we can sample or risk assess at owners request.
Small Domestic Supplies: The amount of monitoring will depend on the outcome of the risk assessment. However, it will be a minimum of once every five years. Supplies will be sampled for five basic parameters and anything else that arises from the risk assessment.
Private Distribution Systems: Monitoring must be carried out according to the outcome of the risk assessment.
Large Supplies or Commercial Premises: Two types of monitoring will occur on these supplies:

Check monitoring ensures the wholesomeness of the water, the frequency of check monitoring will depend on the amount of water used
Audit monitoring determines whether the water supply meets the relevant standards. The range of tests for audit monitoring is extensive and the amount of monitoring depends on the outcome of the risk assessment

Note dairies are included in the commercial category and therefore subject to the full testing regime.

Investigation and action in an event of a failure

All quality failures must be immediately investigated to determine the cause of the failure and whether it was caused by the condition of the distribution system. We must require remedial action and will prohibit or restrict the use of water if it could be harmful to health.

The new regulations make it easier for us to take action. We will always try to resolve problems informally first. If unsuccessful, formal action must be taken.

Authorisations

We can serve an authorisation to allow failed supplies to continue whilst works are carried out to achieve compliance. Authorisations may only be granted for failures that do not constitute a health risk (usually chemical parameters). Before we issue one, we will consult all water users and the Health Authority and take their views into account. We will inform them of the authorisation and its conditions and provide advice to those that may be at greater risk e.g. parents of babies. We will review authorisations from time to time to ensure sufficient progress is being made towards improvement.

Notices

Notices will be served to improve or restrict unwholesome supplies. Failure to comply with the notices may result in either works in default or prosecution in a Magistrates Court.

Appeals

Appeals can be made to the Magistrates Court or the Secretary of State depending on which notice is served.

What are the charges?

The council has reviewed and revised the charges and the following have been agreed.

Action required	Charge
Risk assessment	£32/ hr (min £64, max £500)
Grant authorisation	£100
Investigation	Up to £100
Sampling visit	£35*
Sample analysis (small supply)	£22*
Sample analysis (large supply)	£22-£349*
Administration & interpretation of sample	£50

* Price may vary depending on supplier awarded contract.

Residents will be invoiced for the fees once works have been completed and there will also be an option to pay by direct debit.

What financial support is available to help us meet the new charges?

Residents may qualify for a discretionary grant for under £1000 if they meet certain financial criteria and are in council tax band A-D for minor upgrades/works to their private water supplies (this does not include risk assessments or any form of monitoring).
If major improvements are required for private water supplies and works are over £1000 then residents are eligible to apply for a council loan.

Frequently asked questions

What is a commercial/large supply?

The commercial/large category includes any business that supplies water from a private water supply to the public for drinking, washing, food preparation, or where the water is used in a way that it is likely to enter the human chain (e.g. dairies washing down equipment). This category includes B&B, holiday lets, pubs, dairies and food production premises. Also within this category are domestic private water supplies that provide water to more than 50 people.

What if the supply outlet is not on my land?

The owner of the private water supply is responsible for providing safe water to the users even if the supply outlet (tap) is not on the owners land.

Can I do the risk assessment and sampling myself?

Risk assessments can only be performed by the local authority or a company the local authority has appointed and approved to act on its behalf.

The local authority is responsible for ensuring sampling is completed according to legislation, therefore if you want another company to take and analyse samples of your private water supply, the local authority will need to approve the sampling company and analysis suite prior to samples being taken. The analysis must comply with the new legislation. The local authority will need to be sent the results certificates directly from the laboratory.

What has happened about the pricing structure for risk assessing and sampling?

The fee structure has been examined by the council's Policy Scrutiny Committee on 21 September 2010. Their recommendations were accepted by the council's Executive Committee on 12 October 2010 (fee's are reflected above).

The fee structure has accordingly been revised to reflect the time that officers spend carrying out the statutory risk assessment and the officer time and payments we make to a contractor to carry out water sampling and analysis. This will in many instances have the effect of reducing the overall fees but for larger and/or more complex supplies the fees may still reach the maximum level allowed in the regulations. However, the effect of this is that the cost to the council of implementing these new requirements will not be fully met from the fees and the shortfall will have to be picked up by council taxpayers.

What are WDDC doing to lessen the impact of the new regulations?

Policy Scrutiny Committee was very concerned about the onerous and costly requirements of the new regulations and the effect that they could have impacted especially on small businesses in WDDC area. As a result, WDDC have written to Oliver Letwin MP detailing our concerns and copied it to the Minister for the Department of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. WDDC have asked that consideration be given to the following to mitigate the unfair impact of this legislation:

· To re-define 'commercial premises' so that very small businesses have less onerous requirements placed upon them.

· To reduce the monitoring standards for supplies not used for human drinking water or in the direct preparation of food for human consumption.

· To remove the maximum fee levels in relation to very large supplies so that true costs incurred can be recovered, and not subsidised from elsewhere.

· To make available grant funding similar to that provided by the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly to assist private water supply owners in meeting the additional costs.

· To reduce the requirement to carry out a risk assessment to those premises where a test sample has proved a private water supply to be safe.