Wicklow County Council is responsible for the supervision and the monitoring of private drinking water supplies that originate from a private source, such as a well, spring or river, and:

• Serve 50 or more persons or
• Are part of a commercial or public activity, eg tourist accommodation or food businesses, or
• Are a private group water scheme serving 15 houses, using their own private water source for drinking water

Such private water supplies must be registered with Wicklow County Council and are usually located outside urban centres not served by a public drinking water supply. The responsibility for registration lays with the water supplier, for instance, the property owner. An application can be downloaded below; this should completed in full and emailed or posted to the address below.

The monitoring of private regulated water supplies is carried out to ascertain whether such a water supply is meeting the water quality standards specified in the EU Drinking Water Regulation 2014. A fee is charged to contribute toward the monitoring costs incurred by Wicklow County Council.

In the event of a regulated private water supply failing to meet a standard or an incident occurring that presents a potential danger to health, Wicklow County Council consults with the HSE and a restriction on the supply of water may be agreed to protect human health. The water supplier will be required to inform their consumers and place water restriction notices, eg boil water notice on the water supply to their property.

The Council will require the water supplier to undertake investigation into the cause of the failure/incident and to submit proposals for remedial action within a specific timeframe.

Wicklow County Council recommends that all regulated private water supplies should be appropriately disinfected and have management plans in place to cover inspection, maintenance, monitoring and incident response.