Water Quality
River water quality and water pollution
The Council's Environmental Health service liaise with the Environment Agency on issues relating to the quality of the local water courses. Together we aim to prevent or reduce the risk of water pollution wherever possible, and to ensure that pollution gets cleaned up if it might affect ecosystems or public health. Anyone discharging waste products into a watercourse or supply must have a consent permit issued by the Environment Agency.
If you see a person polluting a watercourse, or you are concerned about the colour, odour or condition of a watercourse near you, contact the Environment Agency on their 24-hour hotline 0800 80 70 60.
Visit the Gov.uk Water Quality site for further information.
Drinking water quality
For enquiries about drinking water quality, contact Severn Trent Water.
Private Water Supply Regulations 2009
Rushcliffe Borough Council is required to undertake risk assessments for all private water supplies serving commercial premises or supplies serving more than one domestic property. The Regulations (Schedule 5, section2(3)) allow Rushcliffe Borough Council to charge a fee (Schedule 5 Regulation 21) to cover the risk assessment process, taking water samples and any investigation into the failure of the water quality of a supply.
The regulations are attached on the right.
Risk Assessments
Risk Assessments will be undertaken every five years by Rushcliffe Borough Council. The Council will charge a fee dependent upon the nature and duration of the investigation and apportion the cost of the risk assessment equally between all the premises that use the supply.
Sampling Regime
To check the effectiveness of any protection or treatment on the private water supply, a programme of sampling for bacteriological and chemical parameters will be undertaken. The frequency of sampling is to be in accordance with the Regulations, the outcome of the risk assessment and the volume of water used. Supplies are categorised as large or small. A large supply is one that supplies an average daily volume of water of 10 m3 or more, or supplies water to premises where the water is used for a commercial activity or to public premises.
Check monitoring is to be undertaken frequently for a few important parameters and audit monitoring is undertaken less frequently for any other relevant parameters identified in the risk assessment.
Private water supplies for domestic premises will be sampled on a five year basis.
Where there is a commercial premises using the supply, the frequency of sampling will increase, to reflect the greater risk to human health.
Investigations
In the event of a chemical or bacteriological failure of the water supply, Rushcliffe Borough Council is required to undertake an investigation to identify the reason for the failure. Rushcliffe Borough Council must take action to ensure that the relevant person(s) rectify any deficiencies identified that have resulted in the water supply becoming unwholesome.
Relevant person:
- the owner or occupier of the premises supplied; and
- the owner or occupier of the premises where the source of the supply is situated even if the source lies outside the local authority’s area; and
- any other person who exercises powers of management or control in relation to that source.