Drinking water
Drinking water
The drinking water to your property may be supplied from the mains of a public water supplier or a private water supply or a private distribution system.
What is a Private Water Supply (PWS)?
Private water supplies are water supplies obtained from a source that is not a public water company such as Thames Water (the company that currently supplies water to Southwark) or licensees. Common sources of private water supplies are borehole, springs, ground water and surface water.
What is a Private Distribution System (PDS)?
A private distribution system occurs when mains water is supplied to a site or property and it is then distributed to other buildings or units which are not owned or occupied by the same company or organisation or person and the occupants or residents pay for the water in fees or maintenance charges to the owner of the premises, not the mains water provider. Examples of private distribution systems are Caravan sites, shopping centres, privately owned industrial parks and housing complex.
Please note that blocks of flats or houses in multiple occupancy that have individual flats or an office building are not private distribution systems.
Under the water regulatory regime water supplied from a private distribution system is treated as a private water supply.
Legislative background-What are the duties of the Local Authority?
The Water Industry Act 1991 Section 77 makes it a duty of every local authority to take all such steps as they consider appropriate for keeping themselves informed about the wholesomeness and sufficiency of water supplies provided to premises in their area, including every private supply to any such premises.
The Private Water Supplier Regulations 2009 which came into force on 1 January 2010 outlined the duties of the Local Authority to regulate private water supplies.
The Local Authority will have to keep and submit records annually to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) of all Private Water Supplies in their area.
Carry out risk assessments of PWS in its area by 2015 and regularly (every 5 years) monitor all private water supplies and take appropriate action to ensure that the water supplied is wholesome.
The safety or wholesomeness of public supplied water and among other things is monitored by the Drinking Water Inspectorate which is an independent body set up for this purpose.
Charges applicable to private water supplies
The Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009 (the regulations) also sets out how much the council can charge in undertaking these duties. These charges are summarised below.
| Activity | Maximum charge permitted | Charging scheme | Comments |
| Risk assesment | £500 | Officer's hourly rate (£43) x time | £43 per hour. Total cost typically in region of £105. |
| Sampling | £100 | Costs of laboratory analysis recovered plus admin charge of £70 | Charges include travel, visit, sampling, processing results and administrative work. |
| Investigation | £100 | Hourly rate x time plus any analysis costs | Carried out in the event of test failure, can be substituted by risk assessment. |
| Authorisation | £100 | Hourly rate x time | Application by the owner of a supply for permission to breach a standard temporarily whilst remedial work is carried out. |
| Analysis: | |||
| Under Reg. 10 (Domestic suplies) | £25 | £25 | Where a supply provides <10m3/ day or <50 people and is used for domestic purposes. |
| Check monitoring (commercial supplies) | £100 | Officer's hourly rate (£43) x time | Check monitoring is carried out to ensue that water complies with the standards. Where possible it should be carried out at the same time as any requirement for audit monitoring, to keep costs down. |
| Audit montoring (commercial supplies) | £500 | Officer's hourly rate (£43) x time plus analysis cost | Additional parameters sampled less often to ensure the water complies with all safety standards. |
All private water supplies must be registered
It's a legal requirement for all private water supplies to be registered.
To register a private water supply or for further information please email the environment protection team, call 020 7525 5777 or write to us at Environmental protection team, PO Box 64529 London , SE1P 5LX to register or for further information.
