Water quality

Quality standards for private water supplies

Under the Private Water Supply Regulations 1991, there is a duty on local authorities to ensure that the quality of water from private supplies serving domestic or commercial premises is 'wholesome', meeting certain quality standards.

These regulations were passed under the European Union Directive 80/778/EC. Directive 98/83/EC is an update of the original directive and stated that all supplies should be compliant by Dec 25th 2003.

To ensure the wholesome quality of the water, samples of water are taken in accordance with the category of supply and analysed. Standards are measured against a set of acceptable microbiological and chemical parameters and charges made where appropriate.

If a sample fails or exceeds against any of the measured parameters, steps must be taken by the property owner or proprietor to rectify the problem. If the problem is not remedied then the local authority may implement the necessary remedial measures, recovering the costs from the property owner or proprietor.

In situations where public health is under serious threat, e.g. hazardous contamination of supplies used for commercial food preparation, we aim to act promptly to minimise the associated risk.