Enforcement Order: United Utilities Water Ltd

United Utilities Water Ltd

ENFORCEMENT ORDER – SECTION 18 WATER INDUSTRY ACT 1991

WHEREAS-

1. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (‘the Secretary of State’) is the relevant Enforcement Authority for the purposes of sections 18(6) and 19(2) of the Water Industry Act 1991 (‘the Act’):
2. United Utilities Water Ltd (‘the company’) holds an appointment under the Secretary of State as a water undertaker under Chapter I of Part II of the Act;
3. The company is thereby subject to the requirements to perform duties imposed by or under any enactment placed on such undertakers by section 6(2)(a) of the Act, including a duty to comply with the requirements of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 (as amended) (‘the Regulations’);
4. Where the Secretary of State has received a report which states that there is or has been a significant risk of supplying water that could constitute a potential danger to human health or could be unwholesome, Regulation 28(4)(b) of the Regulations allows the Secretary of State to, by notice served on the water undertaker, require a water undertaker to review, revise or make operational such specified measures by such date as the Secretary of State considers appropriate to mitigate the risk;
5. The company was notified on 13 August 2020 of the Secretary of State’s intention to make an Enforcement Order under section 18 of the Act in respect of contraventions of Regulation 28(4)(b) of the Water Supply (Water quality) Regulations 2016 (as amended).
6. Under section 19 of the Act, the Secretary of State is not required to make an Enforcement Order if he is satisfied: that the contravention was, or the apprehended contravention is, of a trivial nature; that the extent to which the company caused or contributed to, or was likely to cause or contribute to, a contravention was trivial; that the company has given, and is complying with, an undertaking to take all such steps as it appears to him for the time being to be appropriate for the company to take for the purpose of securing or facilitating compliance with the requirement in question; or that the duties imposed on it by Part I of the Act preclude the making of the order.
7. The Secretary of State is not satisfied of the relevance of the factors outlined at paragraph (7) above.

NOW THEREFORE –

1. The Secretary of State makes this Enforcement Order under section 18(1) of the Act for the purposes of securing compliance with Regulation 4 of the requirements of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 (as amended).
2. The company is hereby required to take the steps outlined in the attached Schedule with effect from the day after this Order is made.

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Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Marcus J Rink
Chief Inspector of Drinking Water
On behalf of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
14 September 2020
UUT-2020-00002