The Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

Regulations 8, 10 and 14

SCHEDULE 4 Exploitation and bottling requirements for natural mineral water and water intended to be labelled and sold as “spring water”

1.  Equipment for exploiting the water must be so installed as to avoid any possibility of contamination and to preserve the properties corresponding to those ascribed to it which the water possesses at source.

2.  The spring or outlet must be protected against the risks of pollution.

3.  The catchment, pipes and reservoirs must be of materials suitable for water and so built as to prevent any chemical, physico-chemical or microbiological alteration of the water.

4.  The conditions of exploitation, particularly the washing and bottling equipment, must meet hygiene requirements including in particular, that containers must be so treated or manufactured as to avoid adverse effects on the microbiological and chemical characteristics of the water.

5.—(1) Subject to subparagraphs (2) and (3), water must not be transported in containers other than those authorised for distribution to the ultimate consumer.

(2) Natural mineral water may be transported from the spring to the bottling plant in a container which is not for distribution to the ultimate consumer if on or before 17th July 1980 water from that spring was so transported.

(3) Water intended to be labelled and sold as “spring water” may be transported from the spring to the bottling plant in a container which is not for distribution to the ultimate consumer if, on or before 13th December 1996, water from that spring was so transported.

6.—(1) The revivable total colony count of the water at source, determined according to subparagraph (2), must conform to the normal viable colony count of that water and must not show that the source of that water is contaminated.

(2) The colony count is that determined per ml of water—

(a) at 20 to 22ºC in 72 hours on agar-agar or an agar-gelatine mixture; and

(b) at 37ºC in 24 hours on agar-agar.

7.—(1) After bottling, the total colony count of the water at source may not exceed—

(a) 100 per ml at 20 to 22ºC in 72 hours on agar-agar or on agar-gelatine mixture; and

(b) 20 per ml at 37ºC in 24 hours on agar-agar.

(2) The total colony count of the water must be measured within a period of 12 hours following bottling, the water being maintained at 4ºC +/- 1ºC during that period.

8.  Water must be free from—

(a) parasites and pathogenic micro-organisms;

(b) Escherichia coli and other coliforms and faecal streptococci in any 250 ml sample examined;

(c) sporulated sulphite-reducing anaerobes in any 50ml sample examined; and

(d) Pseudomonas aeruginosa in any 250 ml sample examined.