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The Draft Private Water Supplies
(Scotland) Regulations 2005 and Proposals for a Private
Water Supplies Grant Scheme: A Consultation
Chapter 1 Executive Summary
Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC fundamentally
revised the previous Drinking Water Directive
80/778/EEC to take account of medical, scientific
and technological advances. It is proposed that the
new Directive is transposed into Scottish
legislation in respect of private water supplies
through the Private Water Supplies (Scotland)
Regulations 2005, set out in draft in this
consultation paper.
The draft Regulations place local authorities
under a duty to sample and monitor the quality of
water from larger private supplies against an
increased suite of biological and chemical
standards. They also incorporate recommendations
from the World Health Organisation's 3
rd Edition of the Guidelines on Drinking
Water Quality, and the
E.coli 0157 Task Force Report, to require
thorough risk assessments to be carried out from
the source of a supply through treatment to the
point of consumption.
The new Directive requires Member States to take
formal action to ensure that water quality
standards meet its requirements. This means that
the draft Regulations will have a significant
impact on supplies that come within the provisions
of the Directive, defined as those supplies which
provide 10 m
3 or more of water a day or serving 50
or more persons and, irrespective of size, supplies
to commercial or public activities.
The draft Regulations amend the Water (Scotland)
Act 1980 to place a
duty on local authorities to
monitor larger private water supplies. In relation
to smaller supplies not covered by the provisions
of the Directive, local authorities will continue
to have discretionary powers in line with their
current statutory obligations.
The draft Regulations require all commercial
premises (including small hotels, bed and breakfast
establishments, campsites and all let properties)
and public premises (including hospitals, schools,
and community halls), served by private water
supplies to meet the drinking water quality
standards set by the Directive. Public or
commercial premises will also be required to
display a prominent information notice to alert
consumers to the potential risk associated with
water from a private supply.
Until supplies can meet the requirements of the
draft Regulations, provision is made to enable
local authorities to grant derogations from these,
where certain conditions are met. These derogations
are strictly time limited.
The draft Regulations require local authorities
to find out the cause of a supply failure and
initiate remedial action. Local authorities will be
under a duty to complete a risk assessment for the
supplies covered by the Directive, and to provide
information and advice to enable users of other
private water supplies to complete their own risk
assessment.
Following this consultation, it is planned to
bring Regulations into force at the earliest
opportunity. They will be accompanied by other
measures including a detailed technical guidance
manual for local authorities, a Grant Scheme to
minimise the financial implications of meeting the
revised water quality standards and an education
and awareness campaign. While the individual
components are substantive in their own right, it
is the combination of measures that we believe will
assist in the improvement of the quality of private
supplies.
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