Frequently Asked Questions
Search results
-
Our charges
-
Infrastructure charges are a one off charge for first time connections to water and/or wastewater networks. They are implemented to cover the cost of the extra demand on our existing network of pipes. The cost is payable by the person making or requesting the connection or, in the event of default by such a person, the occupier of the premises in respect of the connection that has been made or requested. Payment of the infrastructure charge must be made before the premises are connected to our water main or public sewer (as the case may be).
For more information regarding infrastructure charges, please see our Developer Charging Arrangements on our website.
-
Zonal charges are separate from and additional to connection charges. Zonal charges are a type of infrastructure charges set out in section 146(2) of the Water Industry Act 1991. Our zonal charge should be paid by anyone who wishes to build or develop a property connecting into our water or sewerage network.
They are applicable for the following types of connections, whether they are direct or indirect:
- Building of new domestic premises, including permanent caravans;
- Additional new premises on the site of demolished premises;
- Conversion of existing building into additional units/dwellings;
- First time connection of an existing property;
- New commercial and industrial units.
Zonal charges consist of two elements; the fixed element and the variable element.
The first ‘fixed element’ is a figure that is applied wherever the development is situated. It is the same in nature to our infrastructure charge that applied prior to April 2018.
The second ‘variable element’ may vary according to criteria which may be introduced in future. In this charging year, we do not intend to introduce any such criteria, so there will be one single variable element applied in all cases. However, in future, we may introduce, for example, charging divergence between zones where there are different levels of infrastructure investment required.
The sum of the elements of the zonal charge is a contribution towards the cost of infrastructure provision for growth maintaining the broad level of balance with the previous charging regime.
For further information, please refer to our Charging Arrangements document.
-
Our VAT registration number is 514060002
-
For metered customers the standing charges contribute towards the cost of the meter, meter readings, meter maintenance and replacement. Some of these costs are recovered through the water supply standing charge and the rest through the sewerage standing charge. We also recover the costs of dealing with surface water and highway drainage within the sewerage standing charge. As these costs bear no relation to the volume of water used, we believe it is appropriate to recover them through a fixed charge. The unmetered standing charges are the same for both water supply and drainage. Part of this covers the cost of billing as well as an element that reflects the fixed costs of providing you with water and/or drainage services.
-
Sewerage charges are higher than your water charges because sewage treatment costs more than treating and supplying drinking water.
-
There are a number of reasons why the cost of water and sewerage services varies around the country. Each water and sewerage company works in a different operating environment and to different standards of service and efficiency. These factors are taken into consideration when the industry regulator Ofwat sets prices. Our charges are higher than some other water companies because we service a largely rural population and our distribution costs are high. We also have some of the highest quality and service standards in the industry.
-
Water and sewerage charges have to be agreed with the industry regulator Ofwat. We cannot charge what we like. All water companies must submit a strategic plan to Ofwat every five years. Ofwat considers those plans and reviews each water company's performance and investment needs. The regulator sets efficiency targets and the charges for each water company. Ofwat has set the charges for the five year period up to 2020.
Please see our website on our Green Water initiative to see how your development can save up to £740 per plot.
-
Mains and main-laying
-
You can apply for a new water mains, new connections and diversions through InFlow. Please go to the main page and select the relevant application.
-
Unlike sewers, where permission to build over or close to public sewers may be given, we DO NOT permit any building over of water mains.
Water mains operate at pressure, hence they have the potential to cause considerable damage and loss of supply for which Anglian Water could not be held liable for.
-
Capacity checks are undertaken upon application – further details are available on our website.
Connections to existing water supply mains can only be undertaken by Anglian Water.
-
Provided adequate clearance is provided between the water main and other utility assets, it is acceptable for the water supply to be laid in a trench common with other utilities. For further information or to discuss with our design team, please call 0345 60 66 087, option 1.
-
Zonal charges relevant to water supply will be raised when any premises are connected to our water mains for the first time. For the majority of new developments (including conversions) and existing properties which become connected, the appropriate fees will be payable in respect of each individual unit.
The water zonal charge is payable when the premises are connected to the public water supply.
Please note: the sewerage zonal charge is payable if the premises drain to the public sewer (either directly or indirectly).
For further information in relation to zonal charges, please see our Charging Arrangements document.
-
You will be able to contact your Engineer using InFlow. Your Site Contact will also be able to book pre-commencement meetings through InFlow for your development.
Alternatively, to speak to your Engineer or one of our team, please call 0345 60 66 087, option 1.
-
A local offsite mains refer to mains reinforcement required to accommodate additional demand in the local infrastructure as a result of a development being carried out. Unlike a strategic contribution this category of main will normally be associated to a particular development and its affect on the local network as opposed to a regional growth requirement. These mains will be charged as part of the scheme costs.
-
Anglian Water carries out improvement works involving our large strategic water mains in order to accommodate growth within our region. Part of the cost incurred is to be recovered from these developments within the area which will benefit from the water being made available to the site.
This cost is calculated on a litre-per-second rate and apportioned to developments based on their litre-per-second demand.
For example if the rate is £14,000 per-litre-per-second and the development needed 0.1 litres-per-second, the contribution by the Developer would be £1,400.00.
-
As an alternative to Anglian Water designing and constructing new water mains schemes, the Developer can provide the mains under a self-lay agreement. The developer must use a Self-lay Provider (SLP) that is accredited with WIRS (Water Industry Registration Scheme) and an asset payment shall be paid to the developer when Anglian Water adopts the main.
It is important to note that this scheme is independent of the Approved Plumber’s scheme and only companies accredited under the self-lay scheme are eligible.
-
No. The existing mains water supply pipe will have to be either re-routed around the new extension or it will have to be installed in a duct so that it can be removed for maintenance or repair.
-
Contaminated land
-
Under the Water Act 1991 and supported by CDM 2015, Anglian Water has a duty of care towards its customers particularly in respect to the quality of supply. In light of certain ground conditions placing Anglian Water pipes at risk of abrasion or contamination, a soil survey is required to ensure that the correct material is used to prevent any risk to future customers.
-
The stipulations for a soil analysis and supporting information can be found in our contaminated land brochure on this page. However, should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us on 0345 60 66 087, Option 2, option 1.
-
Plumbing
-
If the water is supplied by Anglian Water you must comply with the Regulations. It is the law in England and Wales with it being a criminal offence to contravene the Regulations. However, if the water is supplied from another source, such as a well or bore hole there is no requirement. We do however recommend that you still comply, therefore ensuring good plumbing practice.
-
- A bathroom suite?
- A shower mixer?
- Outside taps?
- Kitchen sink taps?
- Wash basin taps?
- Bath taps?
- Cold water storage cistern?
No, however, the work and the water fittings installed must comply with the Water Regulations.
-
Yes you do need to duct or sleeve hot and cold pipework, the reason being that the pipework must be accessible or removable for maintenance or repair.
-
Yes it is. Any shower hose that reaches into a toilet or bidet bowl is a fluid category 5 risk of contamination to your drinking water supply. There are several ways to eliminate the problem such as constraining the hose with a clip so that it cannot reach the toilet or bidet, fit a fixed shower screen or simply fit a shorter hose.
-
There is a minimum and maximum depth at which service pipes should be laid:
- Minimum depth is 750 mm
- Maximum depth is 1350 mm
If an installer wishes to install a service pipe either deeper or shallower than these depths they must notify Anglian Water for permission.
Important note: The water service pipe must be a minimum of 350 mm away from any gas supply.
-
Many common plumbing fittings such as taps, flexible hoses, washing/dishwashing machine hoses or even a simple tap washer can give taste and odour problems if they have not been approved by one of the approval bodies.
Hoses: The main problem is the rubber used in unapproved hoses which can harbour bacterial growth on its surface.
Taps: Unapproved taps can have rubber washers or ‘O’ rings in the body of the tap which can give a TCP taste to the water.
-
No. Drainage pipes from sinks, baths, showers, washbasins, toilets and bidets fall under the jurisdiction of part G of the Building Regulations.
-
The minimum water pressure that Anglian Water must supply to its customers at the boundary stop-valve of the property is 10 mts head or 1 bar, or another way of putting it, enough water pressure to fill a cold water storage cistern in a two storey house roof space.
-
Blue MDPE pipe may be used above ground in situations where it is not exposed to direct sunlight.
-
Yes. All Anglian Water approved plumbers have had to pass written examinations to prove their knowledge and understanding of the Water Regulations to gain their approved status. Approved plumbers will also issue you with a Water Regulation Compliance Certificate when they have completed a job. The certificate is not only your guarantee that the work and water fittings installed comply with the law in England and Wales but it is also your defence in a court of law.
-
So far as is reasonably practical the temperature of water within cold water pipes should not exceed 20ºC and adequate measures should be taken to ensure that this temperature is not exceeded.
-
Hot water must be stored at not less than 60ºC and be distributed at not less than 55ºC. It should also be not less than 50ºC within 30 seconds after fully opening the tap.
-
No. Only the float operated valves, for example:
- ball valve in a toilet cistern;
- ball valve in a cold water storage cistern;
- ball valve in a heating feed and expansion cistern.
-
Please contact our Water Regulations Team notification department on 0345 60 66 087, Option 3, then option 3. We will then inform you of everything that you must do to comply.
-
No. The existing mains water supply pipe will have to be either re-routed around the new extension or it will have to be installed in a duct so that it can be removed for maintenance or repair.
-
Locating our assets
-
You can view maps free of charge at your local council office. (Please contact them directly for access and opening hours).
You can also view maps free of charge at Anglian Water, Osprey House, 1 Percy Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 6SZ, Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm, excluding bank holidays.
If you require printed versions of maps, please visit www.digdat.co.uk
-
Please visit www.digdat.co.uk
You will need to register on the website and will then be able to search for your chosen location and get an instant quote online.
To progress your order simply proceed to the checkout and make your payment using our secure web page. On receipt of your payment your maps will be dispatched via your chosen delivery method.
-
To obtain a copy of Anglian Water’s sewer records please register with our online mapping website www.digdat.co.uk
Please note that some public sewers are not indicated on the sewer records and this is especially likely if your property was constructed prior to 1st October 1937.
Sewers that serve two or more properties built before this date are often referred to as Section 24 sewers; however they are effectively public sewers and must be treated the same way as a public sewer indicated on the sewer records.
Have any further questions or need help?
Contact the digdat support team:
Call: 0800 085 8060 (please refer to the digdat website for call charge details) Fax: 01480 323890 Email: support@digdat.co.uk Address: digdat, PO Box 485, Huntingdon PE29 6YB or DX123730 Huntingdon 6 -
Drainage
Sewer adoptions & agreements
-
The exact timescale cannot be given as we will not offer an agreement until the design of the adoptable system has been approved. The duration of the design vetting stage is dependent upon our workload at the time and the quality of the technical submission. Once the design is approved we will make the offer and when this accepted we will prepare and issue the agreement for signing by the Developer and then by Anglian Water.
-
It is the Developer’s responsibility to provide a copy or a summary of the Section 104 agreement to all purchasers of land served by the adoptable sewers.
-
Whilst the adoption agreement is entered into between Anglian Water and the Developer, the agreement places the onus on the Developer to finalise the agreement and ensure that the sewers are adopted. There could be various reasons why adoption has not taken place and the Developer should be able to provide more detail. If the Developer is unable to assist, please email developmentservices@anglianwater.co.uk.
-
The purpose of the maintenance period is to allow defects that were not apparent during construction or the pre-maintenance inspection to come to light prior to adoption by Anglian Water. If by the time we carry out the pre-maintenance inspection the sewers have been built for a number of years, we may consider waiving or reducing the maintenance period, however, our decision will depend upon the condition and operation of the sewers at the time of the inspection. Waiving or reduction of the maintenance period is done so at Anglian Water's discretion and as the full 12 month period is a requirement of the legal agreement we are fully entitled to insist on this, should we consider it appropriate.
-
The money is deposited in a holding account and interest is paid at a rate determined by Ofwat. The deposit will be released in accordance with the terms of the legal agreement. Please see our legal section below for further information.
-
Building over or near an Anglian Water sewer
-
1.I am planning to carry out building works and there is a sewer crossing my land. What should I do?
When you make your Building Regulations application, Building Control should consult Anglian Water regarding any proposals within 3 metres of the public sewer. We do however strongly recommend that you contact Anglian Water before this time, so that we can discuss and agree what works are acceptable within the vicinity of the public sewer. Please be aware that planning consent does not grant approval to build over or within 3 metres of a public sewer.
-
If a build over agreement exists then a copy would have been provided to the owner to keep with the deeds of the property and to the local land charges department of the Council. A CON29DW or Commercial drainage search would identify if such an agreement exists. Under Part H4 of the Building Regulations 2000, consent may have been granted without the need for such agreement and therefore a copy of the Building Regulations approval document may suffice. Retrospective approval cannot be granted by Anglian Water.
-
Diversion of an Anglian Water sewer
-
Yes, you are required to apply for a sewer diversion under Section 185 of the Water Industry Act 1991 and an application form is available to download from this web site. You will be required to enter into a legal agreement with Anglian Water before diversionary work commences and to fund the design and construction of the diversionary works.
-
Connection to an Anglian Water Sewer
-
In this case we are approving the discharge of additional flows to the public sewer not the physical connection and as part of our assessment we must ensure that the public system has adequate capacity to accept these flows. We also require an application so that we have details of the connected properties for billing purposes. Please note that approval to connect to a private drain/sewer must be sought and obtained from the owner(s) of the drain/sewer.
-
Foul water sewers are not generally large enough to accommodate surface water flows and therefore the discharge of surface water to foul could give rise to flooding during wet weather conditions.
-
Telemetry
-
A land line is only acceptable where a radio link is genuinely not feasible. This could be if the aerial would need to be excessively high to obtain a signal or if the Planning Authority would not allow an aerial on the development. Unless a genuine reason for a land line is put forward and accepted by Anglian Water a radio link will be required.
-
A radio survey request is made on your behalf by the drainage engineer responsible for assessing your adoption of a new or existing section 104 application. Our Legal & Telemetry team will arrange this at the appropriate time upon their request. You can request this visit through InFlow.
-
A radio survey takes up to 12 weeks from receipt of the request in the Legal & Telemetry team to be undertaken.
-
The current hardware used is Metasphere MM-IM.
There are two types dependent on the radio survey results. Details of which will be provided within the hardware proposal provided at the appropriate time.
-
The responsibility of installation falls with the developer. Upon receipt of your completed hardware proposal, Anglian Water will order the correct hardware (based on the radio survey results) on behalf of the developer and this will be delivered to your requested delivery address. The developer must then ensure that this is correctly installed prior to calling us to arrange commissioning.
-
Once the hardware has been installed by yourselves (this will be ordered upon receipt of the radio survey results and completed proposal form returned), you can contact us here in Legal and Telemetry. We will then co-ordinate a suitable date with our Telemetry Scheduling team on your behalf.
-
The developer must ensure that they arrange for an appropriate member of their staff to be present (who has detailed knowledge relating to the installation of the hardware) during commissioning. Anglian Water’s Telemetry Engineer will test all electrical points to ensure they are correctly configured and working on our Telemetry system.
-
Once your site is commissioned and is working within Anglian Water’s telemetry system, we are able to offer a monitoring service. This service is optional. If you opt-in we offer a service that monitors alarms on the development site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through our Operational Management Centre (OMC). If an alarm is triggered the OMC Alarm Handers will call your nominated contractor/site contact and inform them of the alarm and that someone will need to attend site. Anglian Water do not attend site to rectify the issue the responsibility for this remains with the Developer.
-
You will need to make a request for a final inspection to be undertaken, this can be done on InFlow. The Drainage Technician from Anglian Water will arrange this with all internal parties and the developer in attendance. If the criterion is met, the Technician will arrange a handover meeting to formally take control of the station.
-
Legal
-
Upon receipt of the completed advice note and associated drawings we will prepare and despatch engrossments within 10 working days. If further information is required we will contact you to explain what is required before engrossments can be produced.
-
We refer to the bound and uncompleted agreement as engrossments.
-
For completion purposes we require up to date copies of the Official Copy of the Register, or a Certificate of Title document completed by a Solicitor. A copy of the template for this can be provided upon request.
-
We permit no amendment to the body of the agreement. Amendments to names, addresses, attestations, etc. are permitted but we would ask that you contact us prior to amendments being made.
-
A cash deposit can be provided. If this is selected we will send an Invitation to Pay (ITP) at the appropriate time and this will be added to InFlow under the attachments section. If a surety provider is selected please note they must be a UK registered entities and be Financial Conduct Authority approved sureties under Class 15 “Classes of Insurance” – Suretyship
-
The drawings listed within the engrossments are the technical approved revisions. Any revision may require further technical vetting (there may be a further fee for this). We would therefore ask that you provide the drawings prior to any amendments being made for this to be assessed.
-
Once all parties have signed the engrossments, return them to us at the Legal & Telemetry team. We will then ensure they are signed and sealed by our in house solicitors/attorneys. Whilst this is being undertaken we will ensure we have the correct title documentation, and that all fees have been paid in full. If everything is received and is correct we will look to complete at the earliest opportunity.
Contact Us
Our team's are available from 08:00am to 17:00pm Monday to Friday.
Payment & payment enquiries
0345 60 66 087, Option 3, then Option 2
dsincome@anglianwater.co.uk Opens MailboxWater Regulations team
Anglian Water Services Ltd
Water Regulations Team
PO Box 495
Huntingdon
PE29 6YY
0345 60 66 087, Option 3, then Option 3
reg5@anglianwater.co.ukApproved Plumber/Contractor scheme
Anglian Water Services Ltd
APLUS Team
PO Box 495
Huntingdon
PE29 6YY
0345 60 66 087, Option 3, then Option 3
aplus@anglianwater.co.ukLegal & Telemetry
Anglian Water Services Ltd
Legal & Telemetry Team
PO Box 495
Huntingdon
PE29 6YY
0345 60 66 087, Option 3, then Option 1
S104@anglianwater.co.uk