The Act Part 2 – Drinking Water Quality Regulator Section 10 – Enforcement notices
32.Subsection (1) gives the Regulator power to serve an enforcement notice on a public water supplier whom the Regulator believes has contravened or is contravening a drinking water quality duty. Such a notice may be served where the Regulator believes that the contravention is likely to recur or continue and that the water supplier is not taking appropriate steps to rectify the contravention or prevent it recurring. Subsection (2) gives the Regulator power to consult the relevant local authority and Health Board when considering whether to serve a notice.
33.Subsection (3) requires that an enforcement notice contain details of the alleged contravention, the Regulator’s reasons for believing it to be a contravention, the date by which it is to be rectified, any particular steps the Regulator wants the supplier to take (including any dates by which those steps must be taken (subsection (4)) for that purpose and the date on which the notice takes effect, which may be no earlier than the last day for bringing an appeal against the notice under section 11(2) (subsection (5)).
34.Subsection (6) requires the Regulator, before serving an enforcement notice on a public water supplier, to give the public water supplier a copy of the proposed notice and time to make representations to the Regulator about it. The Regulator must take into account any representations arising from an advance notice of enforcement before proceeding to enforcement (subsection (7)).