What Are the Water Regulations?
There are various regulations associated with the supply of water including water quality, environmental and water fittings.
The following information is intended to provide background and useful information about the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999. These regulations lay out the requirements for any person involved in installing, using or altering water fittings supplied by or to be supplied by a licensed water undertaker.
All Water suppliers have a legal duty to enforce the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 in their supply area with the key aims of preventing :-
- Waste
- Misuse
- Undue Consumption
- Contamination
- Erroneous Measurement of water supplied by the undertaker (SSW)
or
Who Enforces The Regulations?
Our Water Regulations team provides a dedicated resource, their key aim is to assist in the protection of the public water supply. To achieve this we undertake a range of activities including the provision of advice and guidance on regulation matters, and by undertaking inspections of new and existing premises. The Water Regs team carries out the role of enforcement by inspecting a range of plumbing installations and undertake the following types of inspection:-
Proactive Inspections
A Percentage of New Household Premises
All New Non-household Premises/Connections
Existing Premises - Targeted programme based on potential risk
Reactive Inspections
Water Quality - Ad-hoc requests to inspect due to water quality problems
Customer Request - Ad-hoc requests for advice and resolution of plumbing problems with old/new systems
The key objective for our team of Inspectors is to reduce the risk of contamination of the public water supply from backflow of any fluid. Fluids are risk categorised from Fluid Category 1 to Fluid Category 5 with the following definitions provided :-
FLUID CATEGORY 1: Wholesome (mains) water.
FLUID CATEGORY 2: Fluid 1 whose aesthetic quality is impaired due to a change in its temperature, or presence of substances or organisms causing a change in taste, odour or appearance.
FLUID CATEGORY 3: Fluid represents a slight health hazard because of the concentration of substances of low toxicity, eg containing ethylene glycol or common disinfectants.
FLUID CATEGORY 4: Fluid represents a significant health hazard due to the concentration of toxic substances, including any fluid containing chemical, carcinogenic substances or pesticides or environmental organisms of potential health significance.
FLUID CATEGORY 5: Fluid represents serious health hazard due to the concentration of pathogenic organisms, radioactive or very toxic substances, eg containing faecal material or other human waste; butchery or other animal waste or pathogens.
