Public and Private Water Supplies

In Ireland, there are 2 main classifications for Water Supply as follows:

Public Water Supply

These are supplies that are in the charge or ownership of Uisce Éireann or any person acting jointly with it on its behalf under a Service Level Agreement. For any queries relating to Public Water Supply, please contact Uisce Éireann on 1800 278278.

Private Water Supply

These supplies are not operated by Uisce Éireann and comprise of the following types: 

Public Group Schemes: These schemes obtain water by connection to a Public Water Supply and distribute this water through a local distribution network owned and operated by the Group. Group Water Schemes are responsible for the provision of supplies to their customers and the maintenance of their networks irrespective of whether supplies are privately or publicly sourced.

The Group Water Scheme (GWS), set up by the local community manages the distribution of treated water to the users. Uisce Éireann (UÉ) manage the abstraction and treatment of the water. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) approved Connection Charging Policy (Section 13.6 – Connecting Through Third Party Infrastructure) indicates that this is an indirect connection to the UÉ network and a connection charge must be applied by UÉ. The physical connection should be carried out by the UÉ Regional Connections Contractor subject to the consent of the existing GWS who own the physical pipework. This consent should be submitted to Uisce Éireann prior to a connection offer being issued by UÉ. In these cases, the customer will have to submit a connection application to UÉ and apply to the GWS to gain consent which may incur fee – any such fee varies from GWS to GWS.

Private Group Schemes: These are supplies where a Group Water Scheme, set up by the local community, manages the abstraction, treatment, and distribution of treated water. UÉ do not have any responsibility for Private Group Water Schemes. These schemes abstract, treat and distribute their own water supply from a private source such as a lake, river, well or spring.

Small Private Supplies: These are supplies serving a commercial or public activity. The owner or manager of the activity manages the abstraction, any treatment and the delivery of the water. Examples of commercial or public activities served by Small Private Supplies include hotels, pubs, and restaurants, crèches and national schools.

Household Wells: These serve individual private homes, mostly in rural areas. Household Wells are often also called Private Wells. The householder is responsible for managing this type of supply.