The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

Water system design and installation

8.  No water fitting shall be installed in such a position, or pass through such surroundings, that it is likely to cause contamination or damage to the material of the fitting or the contamination of water supplied by the water undertaker.

9.  Any pipe supplying cold water for domestic purposes to any tap shall be so installed that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the water is not warmed above 20°C.

10.—(1) Every supply pipe or distributing pipe providing water to separate premises shall be fitted with a stopvalve conveniently located to enable the supply to those premises to be shut off without shutting off the supply to any other premises.

(2) Where a supply pipe or distributing pipe provides water in common to two or more premises, it shall be fitted with a stopvalve to which each occupier of those premises has access.

11.  Water systems shall be capable of being drained down and be fitted with an adequate number of servicing valves and drain taps so as to minimize the discharge of water when water fittings are maintained or replaced. A sufficient number of stopvalves shall be installed for isolating parts of the pipework.

12.—(1) The water system shall be capable of withstanding an internal water pressure not less than 1½ times the maximum pressure to which the installation or relevant part is designed to be subjected in operation ( “the test pressure”).

(2) This requirement shall be deemed to be satisfied—

(a) in the case of a water system that does not include a pipe made of plastics, where—

(i) the whole system is subjected to the test pressure by pumping, after which the test continues for one hour without further pumping;

(ii) the pressure in the system is maintained for one hour; and

(iii) there is no visible leakage throughout the test;

(b) in any other case, where either of the following tests is satisfied—

TEST A	TEST B
(i) the whole system is subjected to the test pressure by pumping for 30 minutes, after which the test continues for 90 minutes without further pumping; (ii) the pressure is reduced to one third of the test pressure after 30 minutes; (iii) the pressure does not drop below one third of the test pressure over the following 90 minutes; and (iv) there is no visible leakage throughout the test.	(i) the whole system is subjected to the test pressure by pumping for 30 minutes, after which the pressure is noted and the test continues for 150 minutes without further pumping; (ii) the drop in pressure is less than 0.6 bar (60kPa) after the following 30 minutes, or 0.8 bar (80kPa) after the following 150 minutes; and (iii) there is no visible leakage throughout the test.

13.  Every water system shall be tested, flushed and where necessary disinfected before it is first used.