• Illness reported by a visitor to a holiday cottage where the multi-barrier approach to water treatment had not been followed

  This case study involves a private supply to two cottages, one of which is let out as a holiday cottage. Spring water collects into a holding tank on the hillside and then passes through a coarse filter (approximately 50 microns) and feeds by gravity through plastic pipework to both houses. At the holiday cottage the […]

  • Ref: 2013/17
• Are local authority records of private supplies being taken into account proactively and beneficially during planning and housing decisions?

  This case study concerns a shared private water supply for domestic purposes serving four properties. The source of the supply is a borehole sunk in the 1960s from where water is pumped to a large concrete storage tank. Water then gravity feeds, by means of alkathene pipes, to each of the properties. Residents had made […]

  • Ref: 2013/16
• Realising wider benefits from local authority private supply data returns

  This case study provides local authorities with an insight into the wider public health benefits that were envisaged when the new private supply regulations were introduced and the Inspectorate acquired a supervisory role on behalf of the Secretary of State. In particular, the case study examines one aim of the Regulation 13 duty on local […]

  • Ref: 2013/15
• Land agents – a sectorial group in need of water safety information?

  In October, after power was restored to a public supply booster station, an operational sample was collected by the water company from a farmhouse and found to contain E.coli. On investigation the company identified that the contamination was likely to be arising in two privately owned tanks providing water to the farmhouse and three other […]

  • Ref: 2013/14
• Deciding whether a situation comprises a public or a private water supply

  This case study concerns a large estate with a land area of around 35sq/km comprising farms, schools, industrial sites and houses. The estate is managed by a trust, the responsibilities of which include the operation, maintenance and management of the water supply. The trust has been abstracting water to supply the estate since the mid-1920s […]

  • Ref: 2013/12
• Contamination event due to insufficient source protection

  This case study relates to a small, rural, spring supply serving five owner occupied dwellings and a business centre where the occupiers are tenants. The supply originates from a spring located in a field used to grow crops and also comprises contingency arrangements in the form of a backup mains supply connection. The estimated daily […]

  • Ref: 2012/2
• Borehole risk assessment

  This case study relates to a risk assessment of a borehole supply. The local authority carried out a risk assessment in August following the Scottish risk assessment framework and the Environment Agency’s good practice guide for borehole construction. Although the design and construction of the borehole prevented ingress of surface water contamination, the risk score […]

  • Ref: 2012/3
• Appeal against a Section 80 Notice

  This case study relates to a private water supply located in a rural area, which comprised a borehole supply serving two networks. An unmetered network served the owner’s property and an adjacent cottage, while a separate metered network supplied a third property which, in turn, supplied a number of other properties, some of which were […]

  • Ref: 2012/4
• Effective collaboration between a local authority and a water company to resolve a sufficiency problem with a Regulation 8 supply

  In November 2012, a water main serving a social club on an estate developed a leak which was reported to the local water company. This privately owned property was once part of a complex of buildings on a site owned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Over the years various parcels of MOD land had […]

  • Ref: 2012/5
• Repetition of illness among seasonal workers at a fruit farm associated with mismanagement of the domestic and non-domestic water supply arrangements on the premises

  This case study relates to the water supply arrangements on a 200 acre fruit farm in England. There is a mains water supply to the premises, but there is also an irrigation system that can draw water from two other sources; a borehole and a river running alongside the boundary of the premises. During the […]

  • Ref: 2012/6
• Oil contamination of a private supply

  This case study relates to a former private estate, which has been redeveloped in recent times and now comprises 18 domestic dwellings and a church. The properties are owner occupied and collectively the owners are responsible for maintaining the communal part of the development such as the road and car park, and including the water […]

  • Ref: 2012/8
• Improving the safety and sustainability of a failing rural community water supply in a cost effective manner

  This case study relates to a Regulation 9 spring supply serving a village of 80 consumers, including a public house, offices, shops, holiday accommodation and domestic dwellings. The water supply is operated on behalf of the community by a committee constituted as a limited company, whose directors are local residents. Water charges are based on […]

  • Ref: 2012/9