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Drinking Water Quality in Scotland 2002
Annex A The Regulatory Framework
The regulatory standards for drinking water quality in Scotland largely stem from European Directives. On 5 December 1998 a revised Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) was published in the 'Official Journal of the European Communities'. Member States of the European Union have been given five years to meet the standards set in the revised Directive. Exceptions to this timescale are the final standards for trihalomethanes (8 years) and lead (15 years). However, the original Drinking Water Directive of 15 July 1980 (80/778/EEC) was in force during 2000. Scotland and the rest of the UK will implement the revised Directive before the end of 2003 as required by the EC.
The key regulations are:
The Water (Scotland) Act 1980
water authorities must supply wholesome water for domestic purposes. It is a criminal offence to supply water unfit for human consumption;
Scottish Ministers must take enforcement action against a water authority that fails in its duty to supply wholesome water unless the failure is trivial or the water authority is complying with a legally binding undertaking to remedy the matter;
local authorities must take appropriate steps to keep themselves informed about the wholesomeness of public and private water supplies in their area and notify the water authority if not satisfied,.
local authorities are required to secure improvements to private water supplies if they consider them necessary, and
wholesomeness is defined for public supplies in the Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 1990 and for private supplies in the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 1992.
The Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 1990
define wholesomeness by setting standards for 55 parameters and descriptive standards for a further 2;
set and define, the supply zone as the basic unit for quality monitoring;
require water authorities to monitor the quality of their supplies;
specify detailed sampling requirements for samples taken at taps within zones, at service reservoirs and at water treatment works;
make provision whereby, taking account of public health risk, standards may be relaxed where the water is not of the required quality; and
require water authorities to publish an annual report and keep a public register of water quality in their area.
The Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 2001
transpose the requirements of Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption into Scottish legislation;
the 2001 regulations effectively come into force on 25 December 2003.
The Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002
created the post of Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland (DWQR).
DWQR is responsible for enforcing the Water Supply (Water Quality)(Scotland) Regulations 2001.
DWQR is independent of Ministers.
DWQR has powers to obtain information, power of entry or inspection and power of enforcement.
DWQR also has emergency powers to require water supplier to carry out works to ensure quality of water supplied is safe for public consumption.
The Surface Waters (Abstraction for Drinking Water) (Classification) (Scotland) Regulations 1996
sets standards for the quality of surface water to be used as sources of public water supply;
permits waivers for certain parameters where these have a natural origin; and
require water authorities to classify all their sources of water in accordance with prescribed quality criteria subject to authorised waivers.
TheCryptosporidium(Scottish Water) Directions 2002
the Cryptosporidium (New Water and Sewerage Authorities) Direction 2000 was re-issued in April 2002 as the Cryptosporidium (Scottish Water) Directions 2002. The requirements of the 2002 Directions are identical to the earlier version. The Direction was re-issued to reflect the change from the three authorities into one;
requires the water authorities to implement the recommendations contained in the Third Report of the 'Group of Experts on Cryptosporidium in Water Supplies';
sets out a framework for assessing the risk of Cryptosporidium in public water supplies in Scotland and requires the water authorities to assign a score to each of their supplies depending on the assessed risk: and
requires continuous monitoring of high- risk supplies for Cryptosporidium.
The Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 1992
define wholesomeness in the same manner and prescribe the same standards as for public supplies;
require local authorities to classify private supplies according to size and use:
require local authorities to monitor private supplies in their area according to classification; and
requires local authorities to secure improvements to private supplies if they consider them necessary.
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