Private Water Supplies Charging Arrangements

The Council monitors private water supplies in accordance with:

• the Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016
• the Private Water Supplies (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

These regulations decide how often the Council must take a sample of water from a supply, which tests it must carry out and enable the Council to recover its costs.

Charging fees

Risk Assessment

Carried out on a cost recovery basis (contractor and officer time spent on the assessment).

Officer time is charged at £57 per hour. Typical cost £200 - £250.

Investigation

Carried out on a cost recovery basis (contractor and officer time spent on the investigation, plus any analysis costs).

It is a legal requirement to carry out an investigation in the event of a sampling failure. It may lead to a risk assessment being carried out.

Authorisation

Carried out on a cost recovery basis (officer time spent in granting the authorisation).

Application made by the owner of the supply, for permission to temporarily breach a standard whilst work is carried out.

Charging fees for sampling and analysis

Sampling

£90 standard charge for site visit, and administration of the results.

The cost of analysis of the samples is added to this fee (see below).

Specially requested samples may be subject to additional mileage. Quote can be requested from the contractor before the sample is taken.

Our contractor will normally make an appointment with the owner of the supply to carry out the sampling. Failure to keep the appointment may result in the owner of the supply being liable for some or all our contractor’s travelling costs.

Analysis

Analysis of the water is completed by Northumbrian Water Scientific Services. The cost of analysis is what Northumbrian Water charges the Council.

Analysis under Regulation 10

£30

Applies where a supply:

• provides less than 10 cubic metres of water per day
• provides for less than 50 people
• the water is used for domestic purposes

Analysis for Group A parameters

£68

Applies to large and/or commercial supplies. The more water used, the more often a sample is taken.

Analysis for Group B parameters

£300

Applies to large and/or commercial supplies. The more water used, the more often a sample is taken.

The regulations allow the Council to remove a Group B parameter from the samples taken under certain conditions.

This applies when:

• there are three years of results without failures
• the sample passed at less than 30% of the maximum permitted concentration of the parameter

Where this occurs, the cost of analysis will be reduced.

Notes

1. Private water supplies serving single dwellings are exempt from the requirements of the regulations. However, sampling and risk assessments will be carried out on request.
2. Large supplies (10 cubic meters per day or more), and supplies to commercial or public premises, are subject to sampling for Group A parameters and Group B parameters. This is at a frequency dependent on the volume of water used. They are also subject to a risk assessment every 5 years.
3. Supplies are subject to sampling under the regulations and risk assessments will be carried out every 5 years, where they:
   • serve more than one dwelling
   • have a use that is purely domestic
   • have a volume used that is less than 10 cubic meters a day