Dartington Water

The water is taken from two wells adjacent to the River Dart and is pumped into 2 Raw Water Reservoirs. The water is then treated by chemical dosing and filtration through pressure filters. The clean water is then pumped into 2 clean water reservoirs from where the water gravitates to your tap.

The European Union Drinking Water Directive (Council Directive 98/83/EC) concerns water intended for human consumption and sets out the standards and requirements for drinking water. This Directive is transposed into National Regulations and enforced in respect of private water supplies in England through the Private Water Supplies (Water Quality) Regulations 2016, which came into effect on 27 June 2016.

The private water supply at Dartington complies fully with the water quality standards required for compliance with the Private Water Supplies (Water Quality) Regulations 2016.

This is demonstrated and confirmed by the results of a routine sample monitoring programme conducted both at source and within the water distribution system.

The sample results are monitored and scrutinised by the local authority environmental health department which acts as a regulator for private water supplies in the area and which has a number of statutory duties under the Private Water Supplies Regulations.

If you require any further informtion please get in touch with us.

The scheme of charges is shown in the Water Terms & Conditions. When you are charged depends on whether you are a metered/measured charge or an unmetered/measured charge. You can find out more about types of charging and the range of payment methods available in the Code of Practice.

If your property is connected to a mains sewer and you are on a water meter your sewerage charges are based on water consumption and are payable to South West Water. If your property is not on a water meter your charges will be based on rateable value as per your water charges and will be payable to South West Water who will issue an invoice twice a year. Any queries relating to sewerage charges should be directed to South West Water.

As a customer, it is very important for you (or your landlord) to be aware that you have a responsibility to maintain the service pipe which delivers water into your home. If your property is some distance from our water main, it’s likely that you will have a very long service pipe. Remember you are responsible for the entire length of the service pipe from your house, all the way to the boundary of the street in which the water main is laid.

We endeavour to provide water 24 hours a day. However, bursts in the mains or the failure of pumps or their electricity supply can interrupt the flow of water. Your water supply may be interrupted to allow us to undertake planned maintenance. As part of our programme of identifying and stopping leaks we sometimes turnoff sections of water mains. We will endeavour to provide notice to you if we intend to interrupt your supply but in an emergency this may not be possible – please check this page for updates if your supply is interrupted without warning.

If we plan to interrupt your supply for more than 2 hours we will give you at least 48 hours written notice, including notification of the time by which the supply is expected to be restored. If you have a medical condition which would mean that your health would be at risk if you are without water or if you need us to provide notice in a particular way, please let us know so that we can register this and make appropriate arrangements.

In some cases you will be entitled to compensation if your supply is interrupted – see the Code of Practice for full details.

Yes you can change your supplier – but you will need to confirm that the infrastructure is in place with the supplier that you are going to use. This may incur costs with your new potential supplier.

You need to tell us that you are moving by calling, emailing or writing to let us know your change of address details. If you have a water meter and are moving house, please tell us at least two working days, but preferably five working daysbefore you move, so that we can arrange to take the final meter reading. If you are unable to provide adequate notice, we may not be able to read your meter on the day you move and may have to issue an estimated final bill based on previous usage. Alternatively, you could read your own meter on your last day and call us with your reading and new address details. Your responsibility for the water supply ceases on the day you vacate the property (or sell the property, if owned). However, if you give us less than two days notice you will remain responsible for the metered charges up to:

• 28 days after we find that you are no longer responsible for the account, or
• the date the meter is normally read (the end of the charging period), or
• the date a new occupier tells us they are responsible for the account. If you move into a property where there is a meter you will be charged on this basis. You will not be able to revert to unmetered charges. If you are moving out of our area, we will send a final bill to your new address for anything you owe, or, if you have overpaid, we will send you a refund. If you are moving into a property within the area for which we are the water supplier, we will transfer any balance to the account for your new address. We will also bill you from the date you move in.

If you are the owner of the property and vacate before a sale or transfer of ownership, you will remain responsible for water charges up until the date the property is either occupied by another or sold (whichever is earlier). The same principles apply to final meter readings as set out above.