Water regulations
WATER SUPPLY (WATER FITTINGS) REGULATIONS For water installations in the UK, the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 England & Wales, 2009 Northern Ireland and 2014 Byelaws Scotland require to be complied with. In respect of Water fittings and their requirements, reference should be made to Regulation 4, where Regulation 4(1) refers to ‘every water fitting should be of an appropriate quality or standard’ and also Regulation 4(2) provides the options to demonstrate compliance i.e. CE Marking where applicable, Appropriate British or European standards, and also a specification approved by the regulator. Historically, the established voluntary practice has been for ISO17025 accredited laboratories to issue test reports against these specifications, and then on behalf of the manufacturer forward a technical file incorporating these results to WRAS – (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme) to issue a certificate of approval. In recent years manufacturers have opted out of getting a voluntary WRAS approval and asked Kiwa to provide an equivalent declaration of compliance with Regulation 4, which has been done using a Kiwa UK Regulation 4 certificate (KUKreg4). Q What are the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations and why are they important? A The regulations set legal requirements for the design, installation, operation and maintenance of water fittings, systems and appliances, specifically in order to prevent the contamination of drinking water as well as preventing misuse, waste, undue consumption and erroneous measurement. If water regulations are followed correctly it protects the end user and gives the consumer safe drinking water. Q Why is it important to have an approval in place to demonstrate compliance with the Regulations? A Having an approval in place on your product satisfies water authorities, specifiers and contractors that the product has undertaken the required testing and meets the required design requirements for its use. Also being able
to advertise an approval mark such as KUKreg4 also gives your product a competitive advantage in the market over competitors who do not have any approval or recognised product compliance in place. Q How does the KUKreg4 scheme achieve that assurance that a product complies? A KUKreg4 is a robust method for demonstrating compliance with the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 as the testing is undertaken in a ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, and complies with ISO 17065 product certification. During the process of approval products undertake rigorous testing and also the certification decisions are made by experience people who have many years’ experience in the industry and product approval Q Among the water authorities, how well recognised is KUKreg4 approval – compared to alternatives A Historically the WRAS brand has been the most well know brand among contractors, specifiers and water authorities but recently there has been some changes within WRAS and the decision making of the approval certificates no longer involves the water authorities, In light of this water authorities now refer to products to comply with Regulation 4 rather than specifically to WRAS or any other way of demonstrating product compliance. KUKreg4 has been an accepted way of demonstrating compliance with Regulations 4 for a number of years, but in my 19 years of experience in the industry the KUKreg4 brand is much more prominent in the industry now than it has ever been. Q Are end users/specifiers/system designers also aware of the alternative and are they happy to specify products approved to KUKreg4, as opposed to the alternatives A As we all know it takes time to change people’s mindset when they have been familiar with one brand for so long, I always use the example of the term ‘Corgi registered’ it took people a long time to get used to using the term ‘Gas Safe registered’ this will be the same with KUKreg4, specifiers and contractors will get more familiar with it, the more
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