The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016

PART 1General

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 and come into force on 27th June 2016 immediately after the commencement of the Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016(1).

(2) Parts 1 to 9 and 11 of these Regulations apply in relation to the supply of water by every—

(a)water undertaker(2) whose area is not wholly or mainly in Wales;

(b)licensed water supplier(3) so far as relating to licensed activities not using the supply system of a water undertaker whose area is wholly or mainly in Wales.

(3) Part 10 of these Regulations applies to local authorities in England, as regards the discharge of functions under that Part, in relation to every—

(a)water undertaker whose area is wholly in England;

(b)water undertaker whose area is partly in England and partly in Wales, but only in respect of the part in England;

(c)licensed water supplier so far as relating to licensed activities not using the supply system situated in Wales of any water undertaker.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 2000 Regulations” means the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000(4);

“the Act” means the Water Industry Act 1991;

“appropriate local authority” in relation to—

means a local authority whose area contains any part of the water supply zone to which the authorisation relates or, in the case of an application, would relate if a departure were authorised in the terms sought, or whose area is affected or is likely to be affected by the event;

“audit monitoring” has the meaning given in regulation 5(1);

“blending point” means a point at which water originating from two or more sources and treated for the purposes of their supply for regulation 4(1) purposes is combined under conditions that are designed to secure that, after such combination, the requirements of regulation 4(2) are met;

“Chapter 3” means Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Act (quality and sufficiency of water supplies);

“check monitoring” has the meaning given in regulation 5(2);

“combined licensee” means a company which is the holder of a combined licence within the meaning of Chapter 1A of Part 2 of the Act (water supply licences and sewerage licences)(5);

“consumer” means a person to whom water is supplied for regulation 4(1) purposes by a relevant supplier in the discharge of its duties under Chapter 3;

“disinfection” means a process of water treatment to remove or render harmless to human health every pathogenic micro-organism and pathogenic parasite that would otherwise be present in the water;

“groundwater” means water contained in underground strata, and section 221(3) of the Water Resources Act 1991(6) has effect for the purposes of this definition as it has effect for the purpose of construing references in that Act to water contained in underground strata;

“indicative dose” (ID) means the committed effective dose for 1 year of ingestion resulting from all the radionuclides whose presence has been detected in a supply of water intended for human consumption, of natural and artificial origin, excluding tritium, potassium-40, radon and short-lived radon decay products;

“indicator parameter” means a parameter listed in Schedule 2;

“local authority” means any of the following—

“National Public Health Service for Wales” means an NHS trust within the meaning of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006(7) if and insofar as it has the function of providing services in relation to public health in Wales;

“NTU” means Nephelometric Turbidity Unit;

“parameter” means a property, element, organism or substance listed in column 2 of Table A or of Table B in Schedule 1, or in Schedule 2, as read, where appropriate, with the notes to those Tables and to Schedule 2;

“pesticides and related products” means any of the following, and includes their relevant metabolites, degradation and reaction products—

“prescribed concentration or value”, in relation to any parameter, means the maximum or minimum concentration or value specified in relation to that parameter in Table A or in Table B in Schedule 1, as measured by reference to the unit of measurement so specified and as read where appropriate with the notes to those Tables;

“Public Health England” means the executive agency of that name of the Department of Health;

“radioactive parameters” means the following indicator parameters listed in Schedule 2—

“regulation 4(1) purposes”, in relation to a supply of water, means a supply to premises—

“relevant supplier” means a water undertaker or licensed water supplier;

“retail licensee” means a company which is the holder of a retail licence within the meaning of Chapter 1A of Part 2 of the Act;

“sampling point”—

“specification” in relation to an indicator parameter, means the concentration, value or state shown as applicable to that parameter in Schedule 2, as measured by reference to the unit of measurement so shown;

“state”, in relation to an indicator parameter, means the state specified in relation to that parameter in Schedule 2, as measured by reference to the unit of measurement so specified;

“supply point” means a blending point, service reservoir, treatment works or other point, not being a sampling point, which the Secretary of State authorises under regulation 8, for the purposes of regulation 6;

“supply system” is to be construed in accordance with section 17B(4A) of the Act(9);

“water of a relevant description” means water supplied by a relevant supplier which uses a supply system for the purposes of supplying water to consumers, being a supply system into which the water undertaker or combined licensee introduces water;

“water supply zone” in relation to a water undertaker and a licensed water supplier and a year, means an area designated for that year by the water undertaker in accordance with regulation 3;

“year” means a calendar year.

(2) In these Regulations a reference to an application or notice includes a reference to that application or notice in electronic form.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), references in these Regulations to a service reservoir are references to any structure, other than a structure at a treatment works, in which a reserve of water that has been treated with a view to complying with the requirements of regulation 4 is contained and stored for the purpose of meeting a variable demand for the supply of water.

(4) Where references in these Regulations to a service reservoir would, but for this paragraph, include references to a structure comprising more than one compartment—

(a)each compartment which has its own water inlet and water outlet and is not connected hydraulically to any other compartment is to be treated as a single service reservoir,

(b)the compartments that are connected hydraulically are to be treated as a single service reservoir, and

(c)unless all of the compartments are connected hydraulically, the structure as a whole is not to be treated as a service reservoir.