Journey
Set up a water supply business
Learning path for water collection, treatment and supply businesses. Work out which regulations apply, put your workplace foundations in place, meet your water industry regulatory duties and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Water collection, treatment and supply is a heavily regulated industry sitting under economic regulation by Ofwat (England and Wales), WICS (Scotland) or the Utility Regulator (Northern Ireland), plus drinking water quality standards enforced by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (England and Wales), DWQR (Scotland) or DfI (Northern Ireland). On top of the industry-specific regime sit abstraction licences, environmental permits, reservoir safety duties and the workplace health and safety foundation every employer shares. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions — those live in the guides it points to. It shows you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. Every water supply business shares the same workplace foundation, but your water industry regulatory duties depend on whether you are an appointed undertaker, a licensed water supplier or a private supply operator, and on whether you hold reservoirs, abstract water or discharge effluent. Use the router guide to map out your obligations before you commit.
Which water supply rules apply to your business
Work out which rules apply. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workplace foundation to the water industry regulatory duties.
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Put your workplace foundations in place
This is the universal spine. Risk-assess the work — confined spaces (treatment tanks, service reservoirs), chemical dosing (chlorine, coagulants), lone working at remote sites — hold employers' liability insurance and meet your equality and data protection duties. Build this in from the start.
Set up and run a safe water supply operation
The duties every water supply business shares — general health and safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.
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Meet your water industry regulatory duties
Appointment as a water undertaker, economic regulation, drinking water quality standards, water fittings regulations, reservoir safety, abstraction licences and environmental permits for water discharge — these are the sector-specific duties that sit on top of the workplace spine. This guide covers the lot, naming the correct regulator per nation.
Meet your water industry regulatory duties
Undertaker appointment, drinking water quality, water fittings, reservoir safety, abstraction licences and environmental permits.
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the workplace spine is operating and the water industry regulatory duties are in place, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation is genuinely met rather than assumed.
Water supply: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything — workplace duties, undertaker appointment, drinking water quality, reservoir safety, abstraction and discharge permits.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task: work out which rules apply, put your workplace foundations in place, meet the water industry regulatory duties and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position before you start operations.