Private Water Supplies

In Argyll and Bute many premises, both private and commercial, get their water from a private supply. A private water supply may come from a loch, burn, spring, well, river, pond, borehole, or a combination of these.

The supply may serve only one property or a number of different properties. In Argyll and Bute we have approximatly 1600 private water supplies serving over 4000 inhabitants and many more visitors

Private water supplies are, by their nature, very vulnerable to contamination that may cause waterborne infections or other ill effects. Contamination can be bacteriological in nature, from faecal matter such as human sewage or animal droppings, or may arise from chemical sources, such as fertilizer run-off from fields or deterioration of distribution pipework.

The Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations came into force on 3 July 2006 and replaced The Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 1992. Scottish Statutory Instrument documents explaining the latest regulations can be viewed through this website: The Private Water Supplies (Notices) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and The Private Water Supplies (Grants) (Scotland) Regulations. Under the new regulations private water supplies are defined as either:

• Type A - Supplies serving 50 or more persons and supplies to commercial or public activities irrespective of size, or
  
• Type B - Supplies serving only domestic premises with less than 50 persons supplied.

Type A supplies fall within the provisions of the E.C. Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) which require each supply to be sampled and analysed for a wide range of parameters at least once a year.
Type B supplies are required to comply with a limited range of parameters that are defined in the regulations and will not form part of a statutory sampling programme.
Staff from Protective Services routinely monitor high risk (serving more than 50 persons or commercial / public premises) private water supplies as part of their statutory duties. The information gathered is made available for public scrutiny in the form of a Public Register of Private Supplies.

If you have a query relating to Private Water Supplies please contact us at your local area office, email us at Enquiries or for more information log on to www.privatewatersupplies.gov.uk

Grant Funding
Non means tested grant funding of up to £800 per property may be available to you to improve your private water supply. For further information click on the link below or contact your area office.