Waterboard officialdom post builder's standpipe supply.

[epsilonGreedy]

I am trying to understand my obligations and the scheduling of dealing with waterboard officials during a newbuild after a builder's supply has been installed.

 

My builder's supply standpipe was installed 6 months ago and has recently been extended to the onsite static caravan. The setup is very simple with a waterboard installed meter and stopcock sited 1ft outside the boundary of my plot in the grass verge of a public road. My builder dug a short trench for the builders supply, supplied the MDPE pipe, standpipe and one way valve as per the waterboard's initial survey. The waterboard's installation team (Anglian Water) did the road dig and connected everything up.

 

I have removed the standpipe for the moment and extended the MDPE mains pipe 24 meters to my static caravan and the oneway valve from the standpipe now sits inline under the caravan.

 

A few things now puzzle me:

 

1. Will I eventually need a further waterboard survey to inspect the completed mains water installation of the near completed house including the supply trench?
2. If so this will mean an keeping a 3m length of trench open for 9 months which also implies the current static caravan supply being exposed to frost risk?
3. Am I correct in thinking that "a double check valve, drain off tap, servicing valve and tap" are internal building plumbing details that would normally be fitted once a house is watertight and heated?

 

Edited January 1, 2019 by epsilonGreedy

[Jeremy Harris]

First off, "water boards" ceased to exist in England and Wales a few decades ago, so you're dealing with a privately owned utility company, and although the regulations are the same for all private utility companies, each has it's own set of procedures and policies that it will apply, and they may well place additional requirements on customers over and above those that are mandated by regulations.  This means it's hard to give a definitive answer unless someone here has direct experience of the way your utility company, Anglian Water Services Ltd, does things.

 

In general, water companies aren't too bothered about what happens after they have connected a meter and set up your account.  You'll be paying for water that you use, plus an availability charge, plus a sewerage disposal charge (if you're on mains drainage owned by the same water company) from the time that the meter is installed, so it doesn't really matter what you connect to the pipe.

 

Having said that, you are obliged to adhere to the regulations when it comes to installing your side of the water supply, and that means things like using the correct type of NRV that the water company specify (most require a double NRV just after the meter) and ensuring that all your pipework, fittings etc are WRAS approved (almost all are).  None of this is really anything to do with the water company though (except their requirements for the type of NRV), it's just a matter of adhering to building regs, specifically Part G and Part F.

[ProDave]

Scottish Water may still be considered a "water board".  Basically any pipe installed at the point of them making the connection they wanted to inspect, mainly to ensure it was the correct depth and also to ensure the standpipe and the supply to the static caravan both had a double check valve in place * They didn't so I had to fit them and have a second "track inspection" before they would authorise the connection.

 

Apart from  telling me I must also fit a double check valve on the incoming supply to the house when it was connected I don't believe there is any obligation for any more involvement with SW. Anything else will be for building control.

 

For anyone following this, I would make your life as easy as possible. Connect the site standpipe very close to where the incoming supply is going to be routed and have that and only that connected at the time of getting the supply. Then you won't be troubled about any other pipework.

 

* the double check valve thing really bugged me.  There is a single check valve in  the boundary box that SW supply.  There are then 3 single check valves in the 3 boundary boxes that I fitted myself as part of the water distribution system. There is a single check valve built into the brass outside tap on top of the standpipe. But none of these, even taken together were any good. It has to be a DOUBLE check valve.  So what is the point in fitting an inadequate single check valve in any of these? total waste of space.  My honest opinion, is if they want a double check valve, they should fit the required double check valve into the boundary box that they supply.

[epsilonGreedy]

10 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

In general, water companies aren't too bothered about what happens after they have connected a meter and set up your account.

 

 

This was my hope until I started reading up on water supply building regs. Anglian Water publishes a guide showing 10 steps to completing a new build water supply and they mention a later stage inspection that includes internal plumbing details. However the guidance in the document seems oriented to a larger developer who establishes a builder's site supply, then builds multiple properties each of which needs a subsequent meter installation.

 

See steps 8 & 9 on page 14.

 

https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/_assets/media/LED645_AW_DS_Connecting_10_steps_20pp.pdf

 

[Jeremy Harris]

That's one reason I mentioned that each company (in England and Wales - as I mentioned earlier - Scotland and NI have a different system as they weren't privatised) has their own set of policies that they apply.

 

One thing they are keen on is ensuring that any pipework etc that they will have to adopt at a later date (i.e. communication pipes laid within a development, for example) meets their requirements.  In your case it looks like Anglian Water Services Ltd won't fit a water meter until they have inspected the installation for compliance with the regs, but as I understand it you already have a water meter fitted.  How are they to know when you've finished and have the supply connected to the house? 

 

More to the point, I'm not sure what they can really inspect, as by the time the house is complete almost all the plumbing may well be hidden and out of site from any inspector that comes around.  Building control may or may not want to see the water usage calculations.  One of our building inspectors was a PITA about ensuring flow restrictors were fitted on every outlet, but I'm inclined to think he was just an anomaly, as others don't seem to have had any hassle like this.

[ProDave]

You have your individual boundary box into which a water meter can go if they want (we don't have water meters here so just a blank plug in the water meter receptacle)  So I would just keep quiet and work on  the principle they will ask you if they need anything.

 

I did take the precaution of photographing the trench containing the pipe to the house (which was not inspected) with a tape measure to verify the depth, just in case they ever ask.

[Thedreamer]

I put our toby and double check valve right next to the water main and then it was inspected and that was all sorted from their end.

 

Strangely although I purchase a toby myself another one appeared from somewhere and I used this about 110 meters further down at the site with a tee for a temporary water supply and another supply going into the house.

 

In Scotland your water rates are collected by your local authority, we therefore paid for 'building water' in 2015. I wonder if you didn't build for twenty years whether a mechanism exists to collect payment for the water, as we also have no meter?

 

I think how complicated this process is, really depends upon the person who does the inspection. To be honest this can be applied through out the build process, although we have problems associated with delivery charges, if you are in a remote location the attitude is more relaxed. I think this can start to save you money over the course of the build.

[epsilonGreedy]

23 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

One thing they are keen on is ensuring that any pipework etc that they will have to adopt at a later date (i.e. communication pipes laid within a development, for example) meets their requirements.

 

 

Yes some of the Anglian Water material I have read today mentions the requirement for pipe tail ends to be tagged with plot numbers and addresses which would relate to their subsequent adoption concerns you mention.

 

As you and @ProDaveindicate how will they know when a selfbuild is complete and why would they be interested in the finer details of domestic plumbing best covered by mainstream building control.

 

My natural inclination is to keep a low profile but before doing so I wanted to understand the rules. A 750mm deep water supply trench is a significant mantrap that I would prefer to backfill asap.

 

23 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

In your case it looks like Anglian Water Services Ltd won't fit a water meter until they have inspected the installation for compliance with the regs, but as I understand it you already have a water meter fitted.  How are they to know when you've finished and have the supply connected to the house?

 

 

This is correct, in fact I now remember taking a call from the pre connection surveyor from Anglian Water as he wanted to raised a minor concern about the lack of a surrounding insulation box for the standpipe upstand though he did add this would not prevent scheduling of the actual connection date.

Edited January 1, 2019 by epsilonGreedy

[LA3222]

I'm with Anglian Water and working under the assumption  that now they have connected me up and fit a water meter I will hear nothing further from them.

 

I plan on cracking on with the build and will move the connection to the house when ready - I have no intention to speak to Anglian now other than to tell them when my sewer connection has been made (they sent a letter asking if I had made the connection yet so they could bill me - when I said it would be a while I was told just to ring them when it's done - simples).

[Gone West]

15 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

I am trying to understand my obligations and the scheduling of dealing with waterboard officials during a newbuild after a builder's supply has been installed.

 

I already had a water meter installed for the bungalow before I started my new build so all I did was to extend the existing supply to the new house. Southern Water were not involved. The BCO was not really interested in the mains supply to the house and all I did was tell him what I had fitted and he was quite happy.