Archives

• 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
• 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
• 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
• Case study 4 – Further evidence of farms as a category of premises at high risk of causing water to be unsafe as a consequence of unsuitable water supply arrangements

  In September, a customer contacted their water company over concerns they had about particles in their drinking water at their farm in Herefordshire. Samples taken by the company as part of their investigation were found to contain high counts of coliforms, E.coli and Enterococci. In response, the water company issued boil water advice to the […]

  • Ref: 2013/07
• 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
• 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
• Conflict of interests in relation to a failing private supply located in a local authority’s area where the relevant person (owner and manager) is the local authority

  This case study relates to a supply located in a rural area of England, which comprises a tenanted dairy farm and other separately owned domestic dwellings. The farm is owned by the local authority and managed by the council’s estate department who, as landlord, is responsible for providing the water supply. However, the same local […]

  • Ref: 2012/1
• Local authority successful in an appeal against a Regulation 18 Notice

  This case study relates to a private spring water supply in a rural area which serves five properties including a children’s nursery. The nursery additionally has its own borehole supply which is satisfactory. The nursery owner could switch to either a borehole or a spring supply internally at the property, either supply would then be […]

  • Ref: 2012/10
• 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