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Drinkable Water
Drinking water in England and Wales is generally of a very high quality. If you have a problem with your drinking water you should contact the water company to which you pay your water rates.
There are currently three water companies that provide water within the borough of Elmbridge:
Enquiry and emergency numbers are listed under "water" in your telephone directory.
|The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) publish information about the country's drinking water quality and also provide free leaflets which can also be obtained from the water companies listed above.
Private Water Supplies
In general terms, a private water supply is any water supply, which is not provided by a water company, and is not, therefore "mains" water. Approximately 1% of the population of England and Wales have private water supplies to their homes, and the source may be a well, a borehole, spring, river lake or pond. the supply may serve a single dwelling, or may supply several properties via a network of pipes.
Responsibilities
The owner of the supply is responsible for ensuring the water is safe for the intended use, and the Council is responsible for regulating and enforcing the relevant law relating to the safety of private water supplies.
Keeping your water supply safe
- Secure fencing should be fixed around the source and should be placed at least 4 metres distance from it to ensure animals cannot gain access to it, and pesticides etc cannot be applied around it.
- Ensure septic tanks, sewer pipes, and other potential sources of contamination are located away from the water source
- Consider fitting a treatment plant that filters and disinfects the water prior to consumption
Further information is available from the |Private Water Supplies website.
Private Water Supply Register
The Council holds |a register of Private Water Supplies. These supplies either serve a single dwelling or are mains supplies that are distributed to the consumer via a private network, termed as a Private Distribution System (PDS)
Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009
These Regulations came into force on 1st January 2010.
The Regulations state that Councils are no longer required to routinely sample supplies to single private dwellings, however, we are willing to sample these on request for a small charge to cover our costs. For further details on sampling single private dwellings and associated fees, please contact |Environmental Health & Licensing.
The Regulations aim to protect consumers' health and they require the same quality standards as the mains water supply. They require the Council to carry out a risk assessment of each supply (except single private dwellings) so that the subsequent monitoring regime is tailored to the risk it presents, caused by factors such as the source of supply, the area it is abstracted from and the number of consumers. Within 5 years, the Council has to complete the risk assessments for all supplies within its district (except supplies to single dwellings) and there is a duty on the Council to regularly monitor supplies used as part of a commercial or public activity which service 50 or more persons per day. The Council must charge an appropriate fee for the risk assessment and any subsequent monitoring.
Further details on risk assessment, monitoring and charging is available from the |Private Water Supplies website (note: ensure you select the section that relates to England).
Once the results of any risk assessment and monitoring are complete, the Council must take any appropriate formal action required to improve the standard of the water quality.
