So people here may remember that I'm not a fan of some aspects of the water regulations, but I just discovered a doozy.

Apparently, I'm not even allowed to apply for a connection to a water main until I have both a full plan of all the plumbing that I intend to install and the name of the plumber who is going to install it! Oh, and they also want full details of my health and safety plan.

Now neither the gas nor the electricity folks need any of this information from me before I can apply for a connection. What is it about water that makes it so much more dangerous than electricity or gas?

Why at this stage is it not acceptable to say "I swear I will comply with all relevant legislation" or words to that effect. Or just take it on trust as all the other utilities do?

There's something seriously wrong with the way the water industry is set up. It needs fixing.

</rant>

On a more practical note, is there any way to apply for water at a reasonably early time in the development before all the detailed drawings are done and all the contractors lined up?

Posted By: djhWhat is it about water that makes it so much more dangerous than electricity or gas?

You don't ingest electricity or gas. If your water supply is dodgy, you will be adversely affected by it. From a risk management perspective, that's non-trivial.

Red tape is annoying, but if you give me the choice between an overly bureaucratic system that delivers clean water and a laissez-faire one that delivers bad quality water I know which one I'd choose.

Posted By: billtWater isn't that dangerous. Humanity has survived for millenia without complex water treatment systems; many are still doing so.

And populations without good quality water supply suffer badly because of it. Raising the quality of the water supply is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to raise the general standards of health and economic productivity in developing countries. It really is the bedrock of civilisation.

Actually water and gas/electricity are different from a risk perspective.

The gas/elec people install to the meter. After that if you "cowboy" your internal gas/electric and get it really badly wrong you might kill yourself and your family, possibly burn your house down and at a pinch blow up a few houses.

Say you ignore the water regs, and that hose pipe that you're filling the old pond with isn't connected via a double check valve and there's a negative pressure incident and you suck up a couple of hundred litres of e.coli or weedkiller laden water back into the public water supply.

That being said that is a pretty much worse case scenario, and we are a little OTT about it. On the other hand just throw together a basic plan and get the name of a local plumber.

As for H&S plan, just day that you will use qualified personnel who will follow industry guidelines.

Aren't single-householder schemes exempt from H&S?

Posted By: djh@seret, the choices aren't as you paint them and the quality of water supply in this country is good anyway.

I agree, was a bit of a false dilemma but intentionally so. If you've got a good quality water supply then complaining about the red tape is a bit of a "first world problem".

Has anyone ever managed to push water the wrong way into the mains water supply? A few bars (pressure) would be needed so where would that come from?

Actually the problem comes when there's a mains fails and someone downhill opens a tap causing a vacuum.

Our water supply is a private one and when we've had supply failures the shower on the top floor has stopped then "sucked back". If the shower head had been left in the bath then the bath water would have entered the water supply (hence the new practice of threading the hose through a loop in the shower rail to prevent it hanging down).

I'm not sure why they don't use check valves in the water meter but they used to be very paranoid hence the requirement for a loft tank with an air gap.

Posted By: pmusgroveThe answer from the water industry will be that there could be a failure in the check valve I guess.

More to the point, I suspect, is that there could be an undetectable failure in the check valve. Redundancy is nearly useless if there's no way to verify it. If the valves always failed shut so people's supply was cut off and they got it fixed promptly I doubt there'd be a concern.

I did hear about an DIY boiler install where the fitter connected the water to the gas inlet and forced water into the streets gas main. Massive and very expensive job to get fixed.

Wouldn't the regulator close as soon as the pressure got much above atmospheric?