Private Water Supplies

Private water supplies are defined as any supplies of water provided otherwise than by the public supplier, Northern Ireland Water. In Northern Ireland, less than 1% of water comes from private water supplies.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate is responsible for the implementation of the Private Water Supplies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994. The regulations apply to private supplies which serve more than one household for purely domestic purposes, or are used in commercial food production, that is, the making, processing, preserving, preparing, or marketing of food or drink (including water) for sale for human consumption.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the 26 District Councils in Northern Ireland, also have interests in these private water supplies.

The Inspectorate carries out an annual survey to identify the private water supplies falling within the Private Water Supplies Regulations:

• 1,269 private water supplies have been identified to date and categorized into one of 10 classes according to size, nature and use of the private water supply;
• of these 1,269 private water supplies, 1,152 are used by dairy farms; and
• a monitoring programme, for private water supplies based on these classifications, is in place.

To register a new private water supply, please complete and return the registration form.

If you have a problem concerning your private water supply, contact the Environmental Health Officer of your local council.

Further Information:

Information Leaflet

To increase awareness of the water quality of private water supplies, a leaflet entitled Is Your PRIVATE Water Supply SAFE? (.pdf 709k) is available.

Website

A website containing further information including a technical manual on Private Water Supplies can be viewed on the following website:- www.privatewatersupplies.gov.uk