The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2018

Authorisations: terms and conditions

23.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a departure may be authorised under regulation 22 for such period as is in the Welsh Ministers’ opinion reasonably required for securing a supply of water for regulation 4(1) purposes that fully satisfies the requirements of Part 3 (“the departure period”).

(2) No departure period may exceed 3 years.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), an authorisation under regulation 22—

(a) must specify—

(i) the grounds on which it is granted;

(ii) every water supply zone in respect of which it is granted;

(iii) the extent to which a departure from the prescribed concentration or value of any parameter is authorised;

(iv) in respect of each parameter to which paragraph (iii) applies, the results of the analysis of the samples taken in each water supply zone in question during the 12 months immediately preceding the first day on which the prescribed concentration or value could not be met;

(v) in respect of each parameter to which paragraph (iii) applies, the results of the analysis of the samples (if any) taken in each water supply zone in question between the first day on which the prescribed concentration or value could not be met and the date of the application;

(vi) the average daily quantity of water supplied from each of those zones or, if that quantity cannot readily be ascertained, the average daily quantity of water supplied from the treatment works that supplies water to that zone;

(vii) the estimated population of each of those zones;

(viii) whether or not any relevant food-production undertaking would be affected; and

(ix) the departure period;

(b) must require the implementation of a scheme for monitoring the quality of water supplied in each of those zones during the departure period (which may be, but need not be, the scheme submitted in accordance with regulation 22(3)(b));

(c) must require the carrying out of the steps which, in its opinion, are reasonably required in order to secure that the supply fully satisfies the requirements of Part 3 (whether or not the steps are those proposed in the summary submitted in accordance with regulation 22(3)(c));

(d) must specify, in relation to those steps—

(i) the timetable for the work;

(ii) an estimate of the cost of the work; and

(iii) provisions for reviewing the progress of the work and for reporting to it the result of the review; and

(e) must require a relevant supplier to provide to the relevant population advice as to the measures (if any) that it would be advisable for them to take in the interests of their health for the whole or any part of the departure period.

(4) In paragraph (3)(e), “relevant population” means the population within the water supply zones to which the authorisation applies and, in particular, those groups of that population for which the supply of water in accordance with the authorisation could present a special risk.

(5) Where paragraph (6) applies, the particulars to be specified in the authorisation are those required by paragraph (3)(a)(iii) and (ix), and paragraph (3)(b) to (e) does not apply.

(6) This paragraph applies where the Welsh Ministers are of the opinion that—

(a) the extent of the contravention of the requirements of Part 3 as respects any parameter is trivial; and

(b) the prescribed concentration or value as respects that parameter is likely to be achieved within the period of 30 days beginning with the day on which the prescribed concentration or value in respect of that parameter was contravened.

(7) Where it appears to the Welsh Ministers that a supply of water that fully satisfies the requirements of Part 3 cannot be restored by the end of the departure period, they may authorise a further departure.

(8) Paragraphs (1) to (6) will apply to a further departure authorised under paragraph (7) as they apply to a departure authorised under regulation 22.

(9) Where it appears to the Welsh Ministers that a supply of water that fully satisfies the requirements of Part 3 cannot be restored by the end of the departure period relevant to an authorisation under paragraph (5), they may, in accordance with Article 9(2) of Council Directive 98/83/EEC on the quality of water for human consumption(1), authorise a third departure.

(10) Paragraph (3) applies to a third departure authorised under paragraph (9) as it applies to a departure authorised under regulation 22, but with the substitution for the words “Subject to paragraph (5)”of the words “Subject to any direction of the European Commission”.

(11) An authorisation under regulation 22 or this regulation may be limited to water supplied—

(a) from particular sources or classes of source;

(b) to particular water supply zones or to zones of particular descriptions.

(1)

OJ No L 330, 5.12.1998, p 32, as last amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 (OJ No L 260, 7.10.2015, p 6).