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Water pollution

Environmental Health Officers look at the following area's of water quality.
  • private Water Supplies: For those who extract their private water supply from boreholes.
  • bathing waters: to include swimming pools at leisure centres, Jacuzzi's, hydrotherapy pools.
  • mains Water: to include Manufacturers of foods and drinks as well as occasionally looking at domestic supply.

Private Water Supplies

Most premises in Rhondda Cynon Taf will use a mains water supply to provide water for drinking, food preparation, cooking and sanitation. If you have a concern about the quality or sufficiency of water supplied from a public main, or a leak from the public mains, you should contact your water provider in the first instance; in most cases this will be Dwr Cymru Welsh Water. If the concern relates to the effect the water may have on the safety and quality of food or beverages produced by a food manufacture or food related business, you can also contact the Council.

A small number of premises may use a private water supply (PWS) instead of, or in combination with, a mains water supply. A PWS will normally collect or abstract local waters and may convey, store, and treat the water before it is consumed or used as part of a food activity. A PWS can be designed and operated in several ways and may be used by a variety of commercial, food activity, public and domestic premises. It may also be the case that a PWS is shared amongst several premises or used solely by one.

The Water Industry Act 1991 and the Private Water Supplies (Wales) Regulations 2017 requires that PWS should be designed and operated so that their waters are safe and wholesome to consume. The Council may routinely inspect, monitor, and investigate certain PWS and can periodically undertake a risk assessment of a PWS to help consider if it is safe and wholesome to use. Where necessary, the Council may legally require improvements to a PWS or for alternative arrangements to be put in place for the provision of potable water, both in the short and longer term. The Council can take enforcement action to help progress any imposed requirements and/or undertake works in default if it believes it is appropriate to do so. In undertaking its duties and actions the Council can recover certain reasonable costs from the relevant person(s) associated with a private water, details of relevant potential charges are on the Council’s “Fees and Charges” webpage.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate has published guidance on its website explaining how Councils regulate PWS and how relevant persons can ensure the water is safe and wholesome to use.

If you, or someone you know, makes use of a PWS and you have a concern about the safety, wholesomeness, or sufficiency of the water then you can contact the Council to discuss this. If there is a problem with the quality or sufficiency of the PWS, the relevant person(s) may be expected to act to resolve the matter, which could include obtaining water from another supply at their own expense.

If you are looking to put in place a new PWS (or reactivate one that has been out of use for longer than twelve months), then you should contact the Council first. The Council may have to consider such proposals and undertake a risk assessment of the PWS before its use is approved.

The Council may seek to recover reasonable costs from relevant persons for services provided in relation to PWS. Maximum fees are set by Welsh Government for this work.

Bathing Waters

We are responsible for checking the quality of all our swimming pools to include leisure centres, private health clubs, hotels and out door pools, hospital hydrotherapy pools, Jacuzzi's and paddling pools.

We check these on a monthly basis for chemical levels as well as yearly for microbiological quality (bacteria) unless there is a complaint or a problem with the chemical tests, in which case the frequency will be increased.

Mains Water Supply

We also examine the quality of the mains water in our food manufacturers to include breweries and other food industries. We may occasionally become involved in the testing of domestic mains water in addition to the statutory water undertaker.

In addition, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, who are the national body for ensuring the quality of water, provide an annual publication titled 'How Good is Your Drinking Water'.

You can report an incident of water pollution to us online

Contact information 

Telephone: 01443 425001
Fax: 01443 425301
Email: publichealthprojectsupport@rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk