Private water supplies (PWS)

A private (not a 'mains') water supply, is not provided by a water company and can serve more than one property. The source of the supply may be a well, borehole, spring, stream, river, lake or pond.

Visit Private Water Supplies website to find detailed information on:

• what are what’s new in private supplies
• drought guidance
• Private Supply Legislation and guidance
• information and other guidance for local authorities and customers
• annual reports

The Private Water Supply Regulations introduced new monitoring duties that require the local authority to carry out a risk assessment on specific areas of the supply.

The Regulations set out monitoring requirements from which we develop our annual sampling programme

• For small supplies (of less than 10m³/day) the monitoring is based on the conclusions of the risk assessment
• Larger PWS (greater than 10m³/day), and supplies to commercial or public premises, will require check and audit monitoring
• Sampling and risk assessment of supplies to single dwellings is carried out on request

The Regulations set out procedures we must follow if we consider a private water supply is unwholesome

• Investigate the cause
• Inform the user(s) if the supply constitutes a potential danger to human health
• Give the user(s) advice to allow them to minimise any such potential danger
• Liaise with the Health Protection Agency to seek advice on whether there is potential danger to human health

We will liaise informally with supply owner/users if a supply needs to be improved. When the requirements have not been met we will use the powers given to us in the Regulations.