ID:
policies-69
Name:
The Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014
Issuing organisation:
Scotland
Geographical Scope:
Scotland
Type:
Legistative. Standards, Recommendations
Scientific domain:
physical states, chemistry, and biology
Type of water:
Drinking Water, Groundwater, Surfacewater
Water management focus:
Monitoring, Management
Parameter change rate assumption:
Water Quality
Description:
Scottish Water must annually designate water supply zones, each covering no more than 100,000 people and with no significant variations in water quality. Public water supplies must be wholesome, posing no risk to human health, meeting prescribed microbiological and chemical standards, and complying with nitrate and nitrite limits. Compliance is assessed at defined points depending on the supply method. Water transferred from service reservoirs is not deemed unwholesome for coliform presence if at least 95% of annual samples show no coliform bacteria.
Status:
Effective
Effect Date:
01-Jan-15
Resource:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/sdsi/2014/9780111024782/contents
Recommendations:
Water supply zones: (1) Before the beginning of each year in which it intends to supply water for human consumption purposes, Scottish Water must designate and name the areas within its area of supply that are to be water supply zones for that year. (2) A water supply zone may not comprise an area whose population immediately before the beginning of the year in question is estimated by Scottish Water to exceed 100,000. (3) A water supply zone may not comprise an area with significant variations in water quality. Wholesomeness: public water supplies The requirements are that the water— (a)does not contain— (i)any micro-organism; (ii)any substance; or (iii)any parasite, at a concentration or value which would (whether in conjunction with another parameter in the water or otherwise) constitute a potential danger to human health; (b)does not contain a parameter in highlighted in regulation at a concentration or value in excess of or, as the case may be, less than the prescribed concentration or value for that parameter; and (c)satisfies the formula “[nitrate]/50 + [nitrite]/3 ≤ 1”, where the square brackets signify the concentrations in mg/l for nitrate (NO3) and nitrite (NO2) respectively. (3) The point (“point of compliance”) at which the requirements in paragraph (2), in so far as they relate to a parameter in Table A or Table B, are to be complied with is— (a)in the case of water supplied from a tanker, the point at which the water emerges from the tanker; (b)in the case of water supplied in bottles or containers, the point at which the water first emerges from any bottle or container collected from a local distribution point; and (c)in any other case, the point or points specified for that parameter in Table A or Table B. (4) Water that— (a)is transferred from a service reservoir; (b)is intended for supply by Scottish Water for human consumption purposes; and (c)exceeds the prescribed concentration or value for coliform bacteria (item 3) in Table A, is not to be regarded as unwholesome for the purposes of Part VIA of the 1980 Act if, in at least 95% of samples taken in any year in which the reservoir in question is in use, coliforms were absent.
