Consultation outcome

Future management of private water supply pipes

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 23 May 2013
• Last updated: 28 July 2014 — See all updates

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Summary of responses and government reply

PDF, 195 KB, 20 pages

Detail of outcome

Transfer of private water supply pipes to Water and Sewerage Company ownership (WaSCs) impact assessment

Detail of feedback received

We received 64 responses to this consultation.

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Original consultation

Summary

Seeking views on the future management of private water supply pipes in England and Wales.

This consultation ran from
23 May 2013 to 11:45pm on 4 July 2013

Consultation description

This public consultation seeks views and evidence to further enhance our impact assessment on the policy options regarding future management of water supply pipes.

Private owners are generally currently responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of water supply pipes. In many cases these water supply pipes are not sufficiently maintained and repaired. This can create an increased risk of failure for drinking water quality standards.

Evidence suggests that there is a general lack of public understanding over the ownership and responsibility for water supply pipes. Water supply companies repair policies for private water supply pipes vary from company to company, creating inconsistency and this add to public misunderstanding.

Our proposal is to create a power which will allow future regulations to be made to transfer ownership of the portion of water supply pipes that are currently privately owned, to the water supply companies. If introduced, this could reduce leakage, protect water quality and help to ensure that our water supplies remain resilient and sustainable for the future.

Documents

Consultation letter

PDF, 65 KB, 3 pages

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Consultation document

PDF, 288 KB, 21 pages

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Impact assessment

PDF, 116 KB, 8 pages

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Published 23 May 2013
Last updated 28 July 2014 + show all updates

1. 28 July 2014

   Published summary of responses.

2. 25 September 2013

   Added information about when the summary of responses will be published.

3. 23 May 2013

   First published.