The Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016

PART 2 U.K.Water standards

WholesomenessU.K.

4.—(1) A private supply of water is to be regarded as wholesome if the following conditions are met—

(a)it does not contain any micro-organism, parasite or substance, alone or in conjunction with any other substance, at a concentration or value that would constitute a potential danger to human health,

(b)it complies with the concentrations or values prescribed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 for each parameter, and

(c)the water satisfies the formula “[nitrate]/50 + [nitrite]/3 ≤ 1”, where the square brackets signify the concentrations in mg/1 for nitrate (NO₃) and nitrite (NO₂).

Use of products or substances in private supplies and disinfection arrangementsU.K.

5.—(1) Any product or substance used in the preparation or distribution of a private supply of water, or impurities associated with such products or substances, must not be present in water at the point of use at levels that would make it unwholesome or constitute a potential danger to human health.

(2) Where disinfection forms part of the preparation or distribution of water, the relevant person must—

(a)design, operate and maintain the disinfection process so as to keep disinfection by-products as low as possible without compromising the effectiveness of the disinfection,

(b)ensure that the effectiveness of the disinfection process is maintained, and

(c)verify the effectiveness of the disinfection process.

Requirement to carry out a risk assessmentU.K.

6.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), a local authority must carry out a risk assessment for every private water supply in its area and review and update that risk assessment every 5 years (or earlier if it considers that the existing risk assessment is inadequate).

(2) In the case of a supply provided to a single dwelling, the duty in paragraph (1) applies only where that supply is provided as part of a commercial or public activity.

(3) In the case of any other supply provided to a single dwelling, a local authority must carry out a risk assessment if requested to do so by the owner or occupier of that dwelling.

(4) The risk assessment must establish whether there is a risk of supplying water that would constitute a potential danger to human health.

[F1(5) A risk assessment described in paragraph (1) must—

(a)satisfy any requirements specified by the Secretary of State in respect of the conduct of such an assessment;

(b)satisfy the requirements of European standard EN 15975-2 entitled “Security of Drinking Water Supply - Guidelines for Risk and Crisis Management – Risk Management”; and

(c)take into account the results of monitoring conducted under the second paragraph of Article 7(1) and Article 8 of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.

(6) A local authority must within 12 months beginning with the day after the day on which it carried out the risk assessment provide the Secretary of State with a summary of the results of that assessment.]

[F2(7) For the purposes of paragraph (5)(c), Articles 7(1) and 8 of Directive 2000/60/EC are to be read with the following modifications—

(a)as if any reference to Annex 5 to that Directive were a reference to that Annex as modified by Part 1 of Schedule 5 to the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017;

(b)in Article 8, as if—

(i)in paragraph 1, the final indent were omitted;

(ii)in paragraph 2, the first sentence were omitted;

(iii)paragraph 3 were omitted.]