Important information about your private water supply

Introduction 

In Wokingham a private water supply is any water supply which is not provided by Thames Water or South East Water i.e. it is not a “mains” supply. There are approximately 120 such supplies in Wokingham. Most of our private supplies are situated in the more remote, rural parts of the Borough such as Remenham, Aston and Wargrave. The source of the supply may be a well, borehole, spring, stream, river, lake or pond. The supply may serve just one property or several properties through a network of pipes. 

Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009  

The Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009 came into force on 1st January 2010 and apply to all private water supplies intended for human consumption. This means they apply to water for domestic purposes (e.g. drinking, cooking, food preparation and washing) and water used for food-production purposes.

The Regulations are implemented and enforced by local authorities and replace the 1991 Regulations.

People consuming water and food prepared from water derived from private water supplies are entitled to the same level of health protection as people served by public water supplies. The new Regulations place a greater emphasis on proactive measures rather than carrying out infrequent monitoring for a large number of parameters in drinking water. This will mean changes in the way that monitoring and sampling will be carried out on your supply.  

We are planning to carry out our responsibilities under the new Regulations and will publish full details on here as soon as possible.

Further guidance on the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009 is available on the Drinking Water Inspectorate Website.

Data Request – August 2010

The Regulations place a statuary duty on all local authorities to provide the Drinking Water Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State) with relevant information about each private water supply and its quality in its area.

Our existing records were compiled several years ago and details may now be incorrect. Letters and questionnaires have been sent to all properties that are believed to be served by a private water supply in the Borough. If you are on a private water supply and have not received a questionnaire, please download a copy of the questionnaire below, complete and return to Erica Taylor at environmental.health@wokingham.gov.uk or:

Environmental Health

PO Box 155

Shute End

Wokingham

Berkshire

RG40 1BN

The information given will be placed on the Public Register of Private Water Supplies which the Council has a duty to maintain. In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 no personal information will be placed on the Public Register.