New legislation came into effect on 1st January this year, which affects all private wells, boreholes, tankers etc. They are now controlled by the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009 SI 3101.
Every local authority must now undertake a risk assessment on all private water sources in its area, and has until 31st December 2014 to complete them.
Analysis of the water must take place at least annually, more often where high usage takes place. Analyses now will take place for a wider range of contaminants than under previous regulations
The authority may charge a fee, payable on invoice, based on “the reasonable cost of providing the service”, subject to the specified maximum charges. For the time being, these maximum charges, £100 for each investigation, are initially of up to £500 for the risk assessment, up to £100 for taking a sample, and £10 for the analysis report. The maximum charges are contained within the legislation in Schedule 5 (Page 19).
The only supplies that are exempt from this assessment are where the water supply is for a single (non-commercial) dwelling, and the owner/occupier has not requested an assessment.
A farm or similar premises counts as commercial premises in accordance with the act, and monitoring is now an obligation on the Local Authority.
May 2010