To report pollution in a stream, river or pond, contact the Environment Agency; please note, we don't deal with polluted watercourses.
Contact Yorkshire Water if you have a query regarding the quality of your drinking water or issues with your mains water supply.
We're responsible for regulating private water supplies not provided by Yorkshire Water. A private water supply is any water supply which is not provided by a water company and which would not be considered to be a 'mains' supply, including:
- wells
- boreholes
- springs
- rivers and streams
- lakes or ponds
Ensuring your water supply is safe
All private water supplies can pose a threat to health unless they are properly protected and treated. You may not be able to tell whether your water is safe as contamination may not show in the smell, taste or colour of the water. Unlike public supplies, many private supplies are not treated to remove contamination.
If you have a private water supply, you should find out:
- who is responsible for its upkeep and maintenance
- where the source is
- where it goes to get to your property
- if it's treated in any way
- whether the treatment equipment is in good order and serviced regularly
Keeping your water supply safe
Make sure you inspect all parts of your supply, including the catchment area, regularly. Any defects should be corrected as quickly as possible. The Drinking Water Inspectorate website gives further information about treating and keeping your water supply safe.
Register your water supply with us
We monitor the quality of all private supplies in the York area. However, if there are only a few people using the supply, we may only need to carry out monitoring once every 5 years. Contact our Public Protection Unit to find out if your supply is registered.
We don't charge to provide advice and information, but do charge for additional sampling.
Changing to a mains water supply
If you no longer want to use your private supply, you can ask your local water company about the possibility of connecting to the public supply, however, you'll probably have to pay all of the costs.
Contact Yorkshire Water for further information.