Water supply...

Graces7

Someone on a US forum has just been shocked that I am buying bottled water as the supply here is from a mountain stream and may not be totally pure.

As long as I have been in Ireland , as I live in deep rural areas, I have used bottled water unless the house has eg a deep bore well...

The person thought a landlord "should supply pure drinking water as a matter of public health".

Out of interest I checked "minimum standards" but nothing re pure water.Just water..

And I am sure there are places in the US where they have to buy drinking water?

Happy as I am but it made me think and I just wondered..

the_syco

I suppose this is what you're looking for; https://www.epa.ie/water/dw/

Paulw

Graces7 wrote: »

And I am sure there are places in the US where they have to buy drinking water?

Flint, MI, comes to mind. No drinking tap water there in years. Very badly poisoned.

Here, there are areas where boil notices were in place for a good while. Not sure what the current status is. Those notices can be checked at https://www.water.ie/water-supply/supply-and-service-update/

Not sure how that would impact a landlord.

Graces7

the_syco wrote: »

I suppose this is what you're looking for; https://www.epa.ie/water/dw/

Thanks and yes. A neat evasion of course as they cannot seek out every remote cottage etc.

Many residents prefer their own supply for washing etc and buy in drinking water.

When we had the problem with slurry dumping, the council were made by EPA to test the water for ecoli. They said the water needed to be brought up to standard but no attempt at enforcement.

I went out and checked the stream and no way would I drink that water.

Peregrinus

Well, Irish Water are responsible for quality of the public water supply. .

A landlord of residential accommodation does have an obligation to provide "with a piped supply of cold water taken direct from the service pipe supplying water from the public main or other source to the building". The "or other source" language allows a landlord to let premises which are not connected to the public main, provided they are connected to some water supply. And it need not be a water supply whose quality is the responsibility of Irish Water.

So who is responsible? The manager/operator of the private supply is. Under the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations 2007 that person is a "water supplier" and has a responsibility to ensure that the water they supply "is wholesome and clean", and this requires that it be "free from any micro-organisms and parasites and from any substances which in numbers or concentrations, constitute a potential danger to human health", as well as meeting the precise technical requirements set out in the regulations.

Their aren't any special rules for rented properties, and landlords are out of the loop. The water supplier's duties are owed directly to the occupier of the premises to which the water is supplied.

Graces7

Peregrinus wrote: »

Well, Irish Water are responsible for quality of the public water supply. .

A landlord of residential accommodation does have an obligation to provide "with a piped supply of cold water taken direct from the service pipe supplying water from the public main or other source to the building". The "or other source" language allows a landlord to let premises which are not connected to the public main, provided they are connected to some water supply. And it need not be a water supply whose quality is the responsibility of Irish Water.

So who is responsible? The manager/operator of the private supply is. Under the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations 2007 that person is a "water supplier" and has a responsibility to ensure that the water they supply "is wholesome and clean", and this requires that it be "free from any micro-organisms and parasites and from any substances which in numbers or concentrations, constitute a potential danger to human health", as well as meeting the precise technical requirements set out in the regulations.

Their aren't any special rules for rented properties, and landlords are out of the loop. The water supplier's duties are owed directly to the occupier of the premises to which the water is supplied.

See

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/repairs_maintenance_and_minimum_physical_standards.html

Peregrinus

Graces7 wrote: »

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See

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/repairs_maintenance_and_minimum_physical_standards.html

The Citizens Information page says that the landlord is required to provide a sink "with mains water supply", but in fact this is wrong. If you drill through to the actual legislation - there's a link on the Citizens Information page - what it requires is a sink "with a piped supply of cold water taken direct from the service pipe supplying water from the public main or other source". So it doesn't have to be mains water; it can be from a private water supply. And the landlord - unless he is also the operator/manager of the private water supply - is not responsible for water quality in the private water supply.