PRIVATE WATER SUPPLY REGULATION
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Purpose and Scope of Consultation
1. In November 2001, Ross Finnie, MSP, Minister for Environment and Rural Development, published a consultation document on the regulation of private water supplies in Scotland. The full text of this document is available on the Scottish Executive web site at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/environment/pwrc-00.asp .
2. This consultation outlined a variety of options regarding the future direction of private water supply regulations in Scotland. The 20 consultation points raised represented key areas of current thinking behind the development of policy for the implementation of EC Directive 98/83/EC and of new national standards. These consultation points are listed in Annex 1.
Consultation Period
3. The consultation period ran from November 2001 until 14 th February 2002.
Publication and Distribution of Consultation Document
4. The consultation was published on the Scottish Executive web site. It was also publicised through press notices. In addition 522 copies were issued directly to interested parties including MSPs, Scottish MPs, Scottish MEPs, Local Authorities, NHS Health Boards, academic and professional institutes and a variety of rural, farming and business organisations. Figure 1 shows the number of consultation documents issued by category. In addition to this widespread consultation the Scottish Executive met with representatives of Scottish water authorities, Scottish Water and the Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland (REHIS) to consult on the concepts under consideration.
Figure 1: Number of consultation documents issued by category
Responses
5. There were 82 responses to the consultation. Figure 2 shows the number of responses by category and confirms that comments were received from a wide ranging and representative cross section of interested parties. Of the 82 responses the vast majority were generally in favour of improving the regulatory framework for private water supplies.
Figure 2 : Number of responses by category