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 M1 and section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 M2 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 M3.

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 M4; and

the 2014 Regulations” means the Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014 M5.

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) M6 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:
Marginal Citations

M6Regulation 5A was inserted by S.S.I. 2010/95.

Amendment of regulation 21F15.

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Amendment of regulation 22F16.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of regulation 24F17.

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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 2F29.

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Insertion of Schedule 2AF210.

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Amendment of Schedule 3F211.

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Insertion of Schedule 5AF212.

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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 6F314.

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Amendment of regulation 9F415.

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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)”; and

(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.”; and

(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—

F5(a)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F5(b)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(c)

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

Insertion of Schedule 2AF618.

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Insertion of Schedule 3AF719.

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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.

M7M8In 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.