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Read on to discover what you need to do in the event of a leak and what you can do to prepare now.

1. Learn to spot the clues. …
2. Find your water stop tap. …
3. How to find your stopcock. …
4. Turn off your heating. …
5. Turn off electricity. …
6. Call a professional.

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Domestic customers who currently pay on an unmeasured (unmetered) basis have the legal right at any time to give their water company a notice requiring them to fix charges by reference to the volume of water supplied (i.e. on a metered basis). Tenants also have a right to ask for a meter but it is recommended that they ask permission from their landlord first. If a tenancy agreement is for less than 6 months a tenant must ask permission from their landlord.

A water company is not obliged to install a meter in response to a customer’s request if it is not reasonably practicable to do so, or if it is unreasonably expensive.

Can a water company insist on the installation of a water meter?

In practice, a water company can install a water meter and charge on that basis, if the household customer:

• uses an automatic watering device (such as a garden sprinkler);
• automatically fills a swimming pool or pond;
• has a large bath;
• uses a reverse osmosis softening unit;
• has a power shower;
• is the new occupier of a property (provided an unmetered bill has not already been sent to that occupier); or
• lives in an area which has been determined by the Secretary of State to be an area of serious water stress and subject to a metering programme as part of a plan to maintain secure water supplies.

Does this mean there is compulsory metering in some parts of the country?

No water company is required to introduce universal metering. The legislation simply gives water companies the power to choose to use metering as a way of managing water resources in their area.

Which areas are classified as in “serious water stress”?

The water company water stress designations were updated in July 2013, using evidence for determining the level of water stress for areas in England and Wales. The following water company areas were classified as areas of serious water stress by the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales (2013 classifications):

• Affinity Water
• Anglian Water
• Essex and Suffolk Water
• South East Water
• Southern Water
• Sutton and East Surrey Water
• Thames Water

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Is there unexploited potential in medium-depth boreholes?

Ground source heat pump technology is vastly underused within the UK, despite boasting the best system efficiencies versus any other heating technology. This is often the case for densely populated urban areas, where space for the ground array might be at a premium. When installing ground source heat pumps in these locations, borehole geometry is key; if boreholes are drilled to a standard depth of 100 – 230m, projects can be ruled as unfeasible as there is insufficient space to install the required number of boreholes.

Drilling to depths of 300 – 400m means more pipe can be installed in the ground for the same amount of ground-level surface area. This would allow the loops to absorb extra energy, sustaining a higher heat load for domestic properties or commercial premises in urban or high heat loss locations.

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Types

Drinking water treatment

Main articles: Water purification, Drinking water, and water supply

Water contamination is primarily caused by the discharge of untreated wastewater from enterprises. The effluent from various enterprises, which contains varying levels of contaminants, is dumped into rivers or other water resources. The wastewater may have a high proportion of organic and inorganic contaminants at the initial discharge. Industries generate wastewater as a result of fabrication processes, processes dealing with paper and pulp, textiles, chemicals, and from various streams such as cooling towers, boilers, and production lines.^[1]

Treatment for drinking water production involves the removal of contaminants and/or inactivation of any potentially harmful microbes from raw water to produce water that is pure enough for human consumption without any short term or long term risk of any adverse health effect. In general terms, the greatest microbial risks are associated with ingestion of water that is contaminated with human or animal (including bird) faeces. Faeces can be a source of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths. The removal or destruction of microbial pathogens is essential, and commonly involves the use of reactive chemical agents such as suspended solids, to remove bacteria, algae, viruses, fungi, and minerals including iron and manganese. Research including Professor Linda Lawton‘s group at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen is working to improve detection of cyanobacteria.^[2] These substances continue to cause great harm to several less developed countries who do not have access to effective water purification systems.^{[original research?]}

Measures taken to ensure water quality not only relate to the treatment of the water, but to its conveyance and distribution after treatment. It is therefore common practice to keep residual disinfectants in the treated water to kill bacteriological contamination during distribution and to keep the pipes clean.^[3]

Water supplied to domestic properties such as for tap water or other uses, may be further treated before use, often using an in-line treatment process. Such treatments can include water softening or ion exchange.^{[citation needed]}

Wastewater treatment

This section is an excerpt from Wastewater treatment.[edit]

Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater and converts this into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environment or is reused for various purposes (called water reclamation).^[4] The treatment process takes place in a wastewater treatment plant. There are several kinds of wastewater which are treated at the appropriate type of wastewater treatment plant. For domestic wastewater (also called municipal wastewater or sewage), the treatment plant is called a Sewage Treatment. For industrial wastewater, treatment either takes place in a separate Industrial wastewater treatment, or in a sewage treatment plant (usually after some form of pre-treatment). Further types of wastewater treatment plants include Agricultural wastewater treatment and leachate treatment plants.

Processes commonly used in wastewater treatment include phase separation (such as sedimentation), biological and chemical processes (such as oxidation) or polishing. The main by-product from wastewater treatment plants is a type of sludge that is usually treated in the same or another wastewater treatment plant.^[5]: Ch.14 Biogas can be another by-product if anaerobic treatment processes are used. Treated wastewater can be reused as reclaimed water.^[6] The main purpose of wastewater treatment is for the treated wastewater to be able to be disposed or reused safely. However, before it is treated, the options for disposal or reuse must be considered so the correct treatment process is used on the wastewater. Bangladesh has officially inaugurated the largest single sewage treatment plant (STP) in South Asia, located in the Khilgaon area of the city. With a capacity to treat five million sewage per day, the STP marks a significant step towards addressing the country’s wastewater management challenges.^[7] The term “wastewater treatment” is often used to mean “sewage treatment”.^[8]

Industrial water treatment

This section is an excerpt from Industrial water treatment § Overview.[edit]

Water treatment is used to optimize most water-based industrial processes, such as heating, cooling, processing, cleaning, and rinsing so that operating costs and risks are reduced. Poor water treatment lets water interact with the surfaces of pipes and vessels which contain it. Steam boilers can scale up or corrode, and these deposits will mean more fuel is needed to heat the same amount of water. Cooling towers can also scale up and corrode, but left untreated, the warm, dirty water they can contain will encourage bacteria to grow, and Legionnaires’ disease can be the fatal consequence. Water treatment is also used to improve the quality of water contacting the manufactured product (e.g., semiconductors) and/or can be part of the product (e.g., beverages, pharmaceuticals). In these instances, poor water treatment can cause defective products.^{[citation needed]} In many cases, effluent water from one process can be suitable for reuse in another process if given suitable treatment. This can reduce costs by lowering charges for water consumption, reduce the costs of effluent disposal because of reduced volume, and lower energy costs due to the recovery of heat in recycled wastewater.

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