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Private Water Supplies |
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 Ninety nine percent of the population of England and
Wales are supplied from public water companies, like the Welsh Water Board.
The
remaining 1% are served from private supplies, i.e. from streams, wells and
boreholes. A private water supply is prone to contamination by human and farm
sewerage or many other ways, contamination levels can rise due to increased population and
more intensive farming and industry. Fitting a water treatment system will give
you peace of mind and can save your life. |
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What is a private water supply?
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A private water supply is any water that that is not supplied by Welsh Water or
your local water company e.g. Wrexham Water, North West Water etc. A private
supply may serve one house or be part of a small distribution to many houses.
There are no rates paid to the water companies, so responsibility for
wholesomeness and maintenance rests with the user, or landlords. |
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Where does the water
come from?
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| Supplies, on the whole, originate from the hills.
Rain water gradually runs down
to where it meets a layer of rock or clay and forms a spring. There are other
sources too; such as well water, boreholes, lakes, streams and simple collection
of rain water. |
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How
does the water get to my tap?
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| From collection points water can be conveyed to the home by channels,
land drains, pipes or it may just flow in a ditch, or come via a borehole or
well. Once it reaches the home it may go straight to the tap or
be stored in a water tank for later use. If stored then
precautions must be taken to make sure the water does not get
contaminated. Any sterilizer must be fitted after the tank and
will benefit from a water filtration system fitted before the
tank. |
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Is my
water safe to drink? |
| The only safe way of knowing is for a sample to be taken to a laboratory
for analysis. Most supplies look clean and pure for most of the year, but tests
have shown that over 50% of private supplies are contaminated with high levels
of minerals, metals and bacteria.
However, test results only show a snapshot of water quality on
the day it was sampled.
Fitting a water treatment system is
the best way to ensure safe water. |
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What might
be wrong with my water and what can I do about it?
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Most supplies are easily contaminated with bacteria (germs) known as coli
forms (these are found in animal/human droppings and are indicators of
pollution), and they survive for long periods in water and soil. There is also
E. coli which can indicate recent faecal contamination. E. coli, non-pathogenic
bacteria is present naturally in man's intestines and are excreted daily in their
millions, and if present in a water sample would be an indication of other
possible harmful bacterial contamination.
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| The standard in 100ml of water is none. There are
also many chemicals in the water supply, and tests have shown that in many cases
these need not be regarded as a major problem, but where problems do occur they
can soon be rectified by installing a water purification system. Many of the
problems that do occur are due to aggressive water (acidic) eroding old lead or
copper pipes, the most dangerous being lead, and all are easily corrected. The
aim is to have near neutral water, that is pH 6.5/7.5 or a slightly higher pH,
which means it is alkaline. This is preferable to acidity, which causes
more harm. The regulations are pH 5.5 (min) to 9.5 (max). For each point you
move down the scale it is 10 times more acidic (i.e. pH 5 is 100 times more
acidic than a pH of 7). This shows in the water supply by leaving
blue/green
stains of dissolved metals in your white sinks. |
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| Remember anything that can gain access to your
supply other than water can be regarded as a pollutant. If at any time you think
your water supply has been contaminated with animal or human waste, then all
cooking and drinking water should be boiled for a minimum of 3 minutes, and
help and advice should be found. |
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| Your local Environmental Health Department are available
and willing to give any advice that may be needed. An
advice leaflet
from the Drinking Water Inspectorate answers questions about
private water supplies. All of our advice is free, so if you
have any questions about your water supply, please contact us
for guidance. |
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