2015 No. 346

Water Supply

The Private and Public Water Supplies (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2015

Made

Laid before the Scottish Parliament

Coming into force

The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 76B, 76F(5) to (8), 76J and 101(1) and (1A) of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 F1 and section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 F2 and all other powers enabling them to do so.

There has been a consultation as required by Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety F3.

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)
F1

1980 c.45. Sections 76B, 76F(5) and (6) and 76J were inserted by section 168 of, and Schedule 22 to, the Water Act 1989 (c.15) and section 76F(7) and (8) was inserted by section 114 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39) (“the 1994 Act”). Section 76B was amended by section 56(2) of the Food Safety Act 1990 (c.16) and paragraph 50 of schedule 6 to the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 3). Section 76F(5) was amended by paragraph 119(42) of Schedule 13 to the 1994 Act. Section 76J was amended by paragraph 119(45) of Schedule 13 to the 1994 Act. Section 101(1A) was inserted by section 27(1) of, and paragraph 9(5) of Schedule 10 to, the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 (c.28). Section 109(1) contains a definition of “prescribed” relevant to the exercise of the statutory powers under which these Regulations are made. The definition of “prescribed” in section 109(1) was amended by paragraph 38(f) of Schedule 11 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c.14).

F2

1972 c.68. Section 2(2) was amended by the Scotland Act 1998 (c.46) (“the 1998 Act”), Schedule 8, paragraph 15(3) (which was amended by section 27(4) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c.51) (“the 2006 Act”)). Section 2(2) was also amended by section 27(1)(a) of the 2006 Act and by the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c.7), Schedule, Part 1. The functions conferred upon the Minister of the Crown under section 2(2), insofar as within devolved competence, were transferred to the Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 53 of the 1998 Act. Section 2(2) is cited to enable provision in relation to the matters listed in the penultimate paragraph of the explanatory note to these Regulations.

F3

OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p.1, to which there are no relevant amendments to Article 9.

PART 1General

Citation, commencement and extent1

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Private and Public Water Supplies (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and come into force on 28th November 2015.

2

These Regulations extend to Scotland only.

Interpretation2

In these Regulations—

  • “the 2006 Regulations” means the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 F4; and

  • “the 2014 Regulations” means the Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014 F5.

PART 2Amendment of Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006

Amendment of regulation 23

In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) of the 2006 Regulations, after the definition of “state” insert—

“total indicative dose” means the committed effective dose for one year of ingestion resulting from all radionuclides whose presence has been detected in a supply of water intended for human consumption purposes, of natural and artificial origin, but excluding tritium, potassium-40, radon and short-lived radon decay products;

Insertion of regulation 5B4

After regulation 5A (duty of relevant person in relation to disinfection) F6 of the 2006 Regulations insert—

Application and introduction of substances and products5B

Where a relevant person, in the preparation or distribution of a private water supply for human consumption purposes, applies any substance or product to, or introduces any substance or product into, the water which is to be supplied for those purposes, the person must take all measures necessary to ensure that, in doing so, the water supplied does not, at its point of use, contain the substance or product, or any impurity associated with the substance or product, at a concentration or value which would make the water unwholesome.

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)
F6

Regulation 5A was inserted by S.S.I. 2010/95.

Amendment of regulation 21F95

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Amendment of regulation 22F96

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Amendment of regulation 24F97

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Amendment of Schedule 18

In Schedule 1 (prescribed concentrations and values) to the 2006 Regulations—

a

in Part II (national requirements) of Table B (chemical parameters), omit the entries for—

i

item 3 (hydrogen ion);

ii

item 6 (odour); and

iii

item 9 (taste);

b

in Table C (indicator parameters)—

i

in the heading for column (3), after “maximum” insert “ unless otherwise stated ”;

ii

after the entry for item 5 (colony count) insert—

5A.

Colour

Acceptable to consumers and no abnormal change

iii

after the entry for item 6 (conductivity) insert—

6A.

Hydrogen ion

9.5

6.5 (minimum)

pH value

6B.

Odour

Acceptable to consumers and no abnormal change

6C.

Radon (for radioactivity)(ii)

100

Bq/l

iv

after the entry for item 7 (sulphate) insert—

7A.

Taste

Acceptable to consumers and no abnormal change

v

after the entry for item 10 (tritium) insert—

10A.

Turbidity

Acceptable to consumers and no abnormal change

vi

in the entry for item 8 (total indicative dose), omit “(ii)” and “/year”; and

vii

in the entry for item 10 (tritium), after “(for radioactivity)” insert “ (iii) ”; and

c

in the notes to Table C, for note (ii) substitute—

ii

Remedial action is to be deemed justified on radiological protection grounds, without further consideration, where radon concentrations exceed 1,000 Bq/l.

iii

If the concentration of tritium exceeds this value, an analysis of the presence of other artificial radionuclides must be also carried out by Scottish Water.

Amendment of Schedule 2F109

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Insertion of Schedule 2AF1010

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Amendment of Schedule 3F1011

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Insertion of Schedule 5AF1012

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PART 3Amendment of Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014

Amendment of regulation 213

In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) of the 2014 Regulations, after the definition of “human consumption purposes” insert—

“indicative dose” means the committed effective dose for one year of ingestion resulting from all radionuclides whose presence has been detected in a supply of water intended for human consumption purposes, of natural and artificial origin, but excluding tritium, potassium-40, radon and short-lived radon decay products;

Amendment of regulation 6F1114

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Amendment of regulation 9F1415

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Amendment of Schedule 116

In Schedule 1 (prescribed concentrations and values) to the 2014 Regulations—

a

in Part 2 of Table C (indicator parameters)—

i

in the entry for item 14 (indicative dose), omit “/year”;

ii

after that entry, insert—

14A.

Radon(e)

100

Bq/l

Supply point(b)

iii

in the entry for item 15 (tritium), after “Tritium” insert “ (f) ”;

b

in the notes to Table C, after the note for “(d)” insert—

e

Remedial action is to be deemed justified on radiological protection grounds, without further consideration, where radon concentrations exceed 1,000 Bq/l.

f

If the concentration of tritium exceeds this value, an analysis of the presence of other artificial radionuclides must be also carried out by Scottish Water.

c

after Table C (and the notes to that table), omit the definition of “Indicative dose”.

Amendment of Schedule 217

In Schedule 2 (monitoring) to the 2014 Regulations—

F12a

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F12b

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c

after Table 4, in the final paragraph, omit “ “Indicative dose”,”.

Insertion of Schedule 2AF1518

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Insertion of Schedule 3AF1319

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AILEEN McLEOD Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers St Andrew's House, Edinburgh

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and the Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014 with the aim of further protecting human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of water supplied for human consumption purposes.

F7F8In particular, these Regulations implement Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom laying down requirements for the protection of the health of the general public with regard to radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption . They also make some adjustments to the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 in connection with the implementation of Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption .

Part 1 makes provision for citation, commencement, extent and interpretation.

Part 2 amends the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (“the 2006 Regulations”).

Part 3 amends the Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (“the 2014 Regulations”).

The powers in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (“the 1972 Act”) are exercised so far as may be necessary (to supplement the other powers cited) for the purposes of implementing, or enabling the implementation of, obligations arising under or by virtue of Council Directive 98/83/EC and Council Directive 2013/51, and for the purposes of dealing with matters arising out of or related to such obligations. In particular, these powers enable—

  • provision to be made in regulation 4 in relation to the application and introduction of substances and products (pursuant to Article 10 of Council Directive 98/83/EC); and

  • other provision to be made in these Regulations (including provision which inserts radon as an indicator parameter) to the extent that these other provisions also have the effect of indirectly extending the scope of regulation 18 (investigations: Schedule 1 indicator parameters) of the 2006 Regulations and that of regulations 17 to 23 (investigation and remedial action) of the 2014 Regulations so as to enable appropriate remedial action to be taken in relation to radon (pursuant to Article 7 of Council Directive 2013/51).

A business and regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations. A copy of this may be obtained from the Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ.