Valuation Office Agency
Definition of a private water supply
1.1 A private water supply is any supply of drinking water by someone not licensed by the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat). These drinking water supplies are regulated under the provisions of The Water Industry Act 1991 which defines the powers and responsibilities of local authorities in relation to private water supplies. Enforcement of standards are covered in England byThe Water Act 2016 as amended by The Private Water Supplies (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 and in Wales by The Private Water Supplies (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 and The Private Water Supplies (Wales) Regulations 2017.
1.2 A private water supply may, therefore, be defined as any water supply intended for human consumption or water used for food-production purposes which is supplied from someone other than a company or person licensed by Ofwat. Where water from an Ofwat licensed water company or licensed water supplier is distributed by another person (that is a private distribution network) this will also be classified as a private water supply.
1.3 The source of the private supply may be a well, borehole, spring, stream, river, lake, pond, rainwater reservoir. The supply may serve just one property or several properties through a network of pipes.
Non-potable private supplies
1.4 Non-potable private supplies are not intended to be covered in detail in this section of the RM. The comments below are simply included for the sake of completeness and to aid understanding of the subject.
1.5 Non-potable supplies that are part of the business of a statutory water company will be included in the Central List assessment of the company.
1.6 Most commonly, non-potable supplies will serve major industrial occupiers. Non-potable supplies in the same occupation as the consumer of the water (industrial works / power station and so on) may be included in the consumers?hereditament, or shown separately in the?rating list?depending on the facts.
1.7 Non-potable supplies not in the same occupation as the consumer and not included in a statutory water companys Central List assessment should be separately assessed. They are valued by the NVU Commercial, Industrial & Crown team on the contractors basis as cross country pipelines,?Scat code?212V. Advice regarding assessment of cross country pipelines is contained in RM 780.
1.8 If there is a non-potable private water supply serving agricultural land in the occupation of a party different from the agricultural occupier, the water supply network itself is neither agricultural land nor agricultural buildings and is therefore not exempt. The supply should be separately assessed, again unless part of a statutory water companys Central List assessment.
1.9 The rest of this section of the Rating Manual deals primarily with private supplies of drinking water as defined in 1.1 to 1.3 above as non-potable supplies are covered in the section on pipes (780) in the Rating Manual.