The Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

Duty to make connections with main

79.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Article and to Articles 80 and 82, it shall be the duty of a water undertaker (in accordance with Article 85) to make a connection under this Article where the owner or occupier of any premises which—

(a) consist in the whole or any part of a building; or

(b) are premises on which any person is proposing to erect any building or part of a building,

serves a notice on the undertaker requiring it, for the purpose of providing a supply of water for domestic purposes to that building or part of a building, to connect a service pipe to those premises with one of the undertaker’s water mains.

(2) In relation to service pipes which do not belong to or fall to be laid by the undertaker—

(a) paragraph (1) is subject to Article 89(1); and

(b) any such service pipe which is to vest in the undertaker by virtue of an agreement under Article 86 shall be connected to one of the undertaker’s water mains subject to and in accordance with the terms of that agreement.

(3) Where a notice has been served for the purposes of this Article, the duty imposed by paragraph (1) shall be a duty, at the expense of the person serving the notice, to make the connection required by the notice if—

(a) the main with which the service pipe is required to be connected is neither a trunk main nor a water main which is or is to be used solely for the purpose of supplying water otherwise than for domestic purposes; and

(b) such conditions as the undertaker may have imposed under Articles 82 to 84 have been satisfied;

and, subject to Article 85, that duty shall arise whether or not the service pipe to which the notice relates has been laid when the notice is served.

(4) A notice for the purposes of this Article—

(a) shall be accompanied or supplemented by all such information as the undertaker may reasonably require; and

(b) if the notice has effect so that a requirement is imposed on the undertaker by virtue of Article 80(4), shall set out the matters that have given rise to the imposition of that requirement;

but, subject to Article 85(5) and without prejudice to the effect (if any) of any other contravention of this paragraph, a failure to provide information in pursuance of the obligation to supplement such a notice shall not invalidate that notice.

(5) The duty imposed on a water undertaker by this Article shall be owed to the person who served the notice by virtue of which the duty arises.

(6) Where a duty is owed by virtue of paragraph (5) to any person, any breach of that duty which causes that person to sustain loss or damage shall be actionable at the suit of that person; but, in any proceedings brought against a water undertaker in pursuance of this paragraph, it shall be a defence for the undertaker to show that it took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the breach.

(7) Where a water undertaker carries out any works which it is its duty under this Article to carry out at another person’s expense, the undertaker shall be entitled to recover from that person an amount equal to the expenses reasonably incurred by the undertaker in carrying out the works.

(8) Any dispute between a water undertaker and any other person as to whether the expenses were incurred reasonably may be referred to the Authority for determination under Article 61 by either party to the dispute.

(9) Nothing in this Article or in Articles 80 to 85 shall impose any duty on a water undertaker to connect a service pipe to any premises with a service pipe to any other premises.

(10) In the following provisions of this Chapter a notice served for the purposes of this Article is referred to as a connection notice.