Agenda item

To consider the attached report (C-015-2019-20).

1)    That the Cabinet noted that strong progress had been made to improve private water supplies in the district to protect human health and vulnerable communities. The initial risk assessment, sampling and enforcement of majority of high-risk supplies in the district was now completed or improvements were in progress;

2)    The Cabinet agreed that the Council begin charging for risk assessment and sampling of private supplies now that most immediate health risks are mitigated for the majority of supplies and that on-going sampling and risk assessment costs could be recovered;

3)    The Cabinet agreed that the Council begin charging for officer time and mileage as permitted in legislation; and

4)    The Cabinet decided that an additional CSB budget allocation of £10,000 per annum be agreed to meet the sampling costs, to be subsequently recovered from property owners, with the Council looking to recover at least that same amount per annum.

The Portfolio Holder for Contracts and Technical Services introduced the report on charging for risk assessments and sampling of private water supplies.

He noted that the Council had a statutory duty to inspect, risk assess, sample and regulate private water supplies used for domestic purposes in our district. Private water supplies were non-mains water supplies such as a well or spring or onward supply of mains water to other properties. The Council had a duty to protect public health and was legally entitled to recover costs for carrying out this work from private supply owners. To date, these services had all been provided free of charge whilst the initial legislation was implemented. This situation was unique amongst local authorities who invariably recovered their costs.

Private water supplies were often in rural areas and feature across the large horticulture sector in the district which have many migrant workers living in caravans on site. The Council had 92 recorded private water supplies within the district. 23 of the larger supplies must be sampled every year for three years according to private water supply legislation, the cost of which is circa £700 in laboratory analysis that the Council can recharge to recover this cost. In 2015 the Council was behind schedule for completing initial risk assessments and was criticised by the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Since then the Council had risk assessed and improved the majority of large supplies; 20 former private water supplies on the Council register had been replaced by connecting to the mains supply. Roughly 85% of the remaining larger supplies within the district had been risk assessed. 3 of these sites currently had applications to connect to the mains supply. Many more of these supplies have been significantly improved whilst these services were provided without charge.

The cost of providing sample analysis to all sites required in legislation would be circa £16,000 per annum for the next three years and then it could be expected to reduce as more data was available. If the regime proposed in the Resources section was implemented this value can be expected to be recovered per year with appropriate officer time for the next three years, and this would reduce for future years.

If a supply fails to meet the required standard the Council must serve Statutory Notices under the Regulations to require site owners to improve their private water supplies to protect human health and comply with statutory requirements. The Council had successfully prosecuted non-compliant supply owners.

Councillor Philip suggested an amendment to the last recommendation to add that the council was looking to recoup at least the £10,000 per annum so this was not a budget increase that was asked for but balanced with revenue generated. This was agreed by the meeting.

DECISION:

1)     That the Cabinet noted that strong progress had been made to improve private water supplies in the district to protect human health and vulnerable communities. The initial risk assessment, sampling and enforcement of majority of high-risk supplies in the district was now completed or improvements were in progress;

2)     The Cabinet agreed that the Council begin charging for risk assessment and sampling of private supplies now that most immediate health risks are mitigated for the majority of supplies and that on-going sampling and risk assessment costs could be recovered;

3)     The Cabinet agreed that the Council begin charging for officer time and mileage as permitted in legislation; and

4)     The Cabinet decided that an additional CSB budget allocation of £10,000 per annum be agreed to meet the sampling costs, to be subsequently recovered from property owners, with the Council looking to recover at least that same amount per annum.

Reasons for Proposed Decision:

The Council had a statutory duty to risk assess, inspect, sample and enforce private water supplies within the district. The reason for the proposed charging regime was because the cost of carrying out this work to the Council was significant and the Council was permitted to reclaim reasonable costs. The Regulations that were amended in 2018 required an additional duty to sample large suppliers for a wide range of parameters for three years to gather baseline data. To collect three years of sampling data was expected to cost circa £16,000 per year in laboratory analysis fees. These duties protect human health and some communities including children who may be put at risk by consuming contaminated water.

Other Options for Action:

The Council had a Statutory duty to undertake these services, the below options were considered and rejected:

1.      The Council could continue to provide these services free of charge however this was considered unsustainable in financially challenging times that all local authorities are facing.

2.      The Council could consider charging the full amount of analysis costs incurred only which would return partial costs incurred but not account for officer time or mileage. This would mean costs would be incurred by the Council but to a lesser extent than providing all services free.

3.      The Council could choose not to fully undertake these Statutory Duties and be open to the risk to human health and public criticism from Central Government agencies such as the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). This is not considered an acceptable solution as many of the supplies in the district could pose a significant risk to human health if unregulated.