Water Quality
What areas of water quality
are regulated by the Environmental Health Division?
- Private
Water Supplies For those who extract their drinking water
from private boreholes, springs and wells.
- Bathing
waters Swimming pools at leisure centres, Spa pools,
hydrotherapy pools.
- Mains
Water Mainly water used by manufacturers of foods and
drinks, only occasionally looking at domestic supply.
Private Water
Supplies
We have a number of domestic private
water supplies where we are the responsible authority for
monitoring their quality both microbiologically (bacteria) and
chemically (e.g. pesticides). The legislation we use is made under
the Water Industry Act 1991 and is called the Private Water
Supplies Regulations 2010. This details what the standards of the
water should be and how often we have to test the water.
Bathing
Waters
We are responsible for inspecting all
non Local Authority swimming pools including those in leisure
centres, private health clubs, hotels, and Spa pools. If there is a
complaint or a problem we will investigate.
Mains Water
Supply
We also examine the quality of the
mains water in our food manufacturers, including breweries and
other food industries.
Domestic mains water is principally the responsibility of the
statutory water undertaker Anglian
Water.
If you have any problems with your domestic mains water supply or
your wastewater services you should call the Anglian Water
Emergency Helpline 08457 145 145.
Occasionally we become involved in the testing of domestic mains
water in collaboration with Anglian Water. For example where ground
pollution is affecting water supplies we may use our powers under
Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to ensure the
pollution is cleaned up.
Mains Water
Quality
The Drinking Water
Inspectorate who are the national body for ensuring the quality
of water, provide an annual publication titled "How Good is Your
Drinking Water?"
Anglian Water give a useful list of the allowable levels of various
chemicals and other parameters in drinking water Drinking Water Quality Standards