# The Drinking Water in Containers Regulations 1994

S.I. 1994/743 · made 11 March 1994

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, implement the provisions of Council Directive 80/778/EEC (OJ No. L 229, 30.8.80, p. 11) relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption, in relation to drinking water which is bottled or sold in a bottle (as defined in regulation 2).

Made under: Food Safety Act 1990 (Section 6, Section 17, Section 26, Section 48)

## Introductory text

FOOD
Made 11th March 1994
Laid before Parliament 15th March 1994
Coming into force 1st April 1994
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health, the Secretary of State for Wales, acting jointly, in relation to England and Wales, and the Secretary of State for Scotland in relation to Scotland, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 6(4), 17(1), 26(1) and (3) and 48(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations, after consultation in accordance with section 48(4) of the said Act with such organisations as appear to them to be representative of interests likely to be substantially affected by the Regulations:

## 1 Title and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Drinking Water in Containers Regulations 1994 and shall come into force on 1st April 1994.

## 2 Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Food Safety Act 1990;
“bottle”, the noun, means a closed container of any kind in which water is sold for human consumption, and “bottle”, the verb, and cognate expressions, shall be construed accordingly;
“drinking water” means water intended for sale for human consumption in any bottle;
“parameter” means a property, element, organism or substance listed in the second column of the Tables in Part II of the Schedule to these Regulations;
“pesticides and related products” means any fungicide, herbicide or insecticide and polychlorinated biphenyls and terphenyls;
“prsecribed concentration or value”, in relation to any parameter, means the maximum concentration or value specified in relation to that parameter in the Tables in Part II of the Schedule to these Regulations as measured by reference to the unit of measurement so specifed;
“sell” includes possess for sale, or offer or expose or advertise for sale, and “sale” shall be construed accordingly.

## 3 Exemptions

These Regulations shall not apply to any drinking water which—
(a) is recognised as a natural mineral water under the Natural Mineral Waters Regulations 1985; or
(b) is a medicinal product within the meaning of the Medicines Act 1968 in respect of which a product licence within the meaning of that Act is dor time being in force.

## 4 Bottling or sale of drinking water

(1) No person shall bottle or sell any drinking water unless it satisfies the requirements of the Schedule to these Regulations.
(2) The concentrations or values of the parameters listed in the Tables in Part II of the Schedule shall be read in conjunction with the notes thereto.
(3) The methods of analysis to be used for the purposes of these Regulations shall accord with the requirements of Article 12(5) of Council Directive 80/778/EEC relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption.
(4) If any person contravenes paragraph (1) of this regulation he shall be guilty of an offence.

## 5 Defence in relation to exports

In any proceedings for an offence under regulation 4 of these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that the drinking water, in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed, was intended for export and complied with the importing country’s domestic legislation relevant to the alleged offence.

## 6 Penalties

A peson guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

## 7 Enforcemetn

Each food authority shall enforce and execute these Regulations within its area.

## 8 Application of various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990

(1) The following provisions of the Act shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations as they apply for the purposes of section 8, 14 or 15 of the Act and, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in them to the Act shall be construed for the purposes of these Regulations as a reference to these Regulations—
(a) section 2 (extended meaning of “sale”, etc.);
(b) section 3 (presumptions that food is intended for human consumption);
(c) section 20 (offences due to fault of another person);
(d) section 21 (defence of due diligence);
(e) section 30(8) (which relates to documentary evidence);
(f) section 33 (obstruction etc. of officers);
(g) section 36 (offences by bodies corporate);
(h) section 44 (protection of officers acting in good faith).
(2) Section 8(3) (which makes presumptions in the case of batches, etc. of food) of the Act shall apply to drinking water which it is an offence to bottle or sell under these Regulations as it applies to food which fails to comply with food safety requirements.
(3) Section 9 (inspection and seizure of suspect food) of the Act shall apply to drinking water which it is an offence to bottle or sell under these Regulations as it applies to food which fails to comply with food safety requirements.

## Signature

In witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is hereunto affixed on 28th February 1994.(ls)
Gillian Shephard
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health
Cumberlege
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department of Health
1st March 1994
John Redwood
Secretary of State for Wales
11th March 1994
Hector Monro
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office
2nd March 1994

## Schedule THE: REQUIREMENTS OF DRINKING WATER INCLUDING PRESCRIBED CONCENTRATIONS OR VALUES OF PARAMETERS

## I: REQUIREMENTS OF DRINKING WATER

Drinking water satisfies the requirements of this Schedule where—

## 1 

the drinking water does not contain any property, element, organism or substance—
(a) (other than a parameter) at a concentration or value which would be injurious to health;
(b) (whether or not a parameter) at a concentration or value which in conjunction with any other property, element, organism or substance it contains (whether or not a parameter) would be injurious to health;

## 2 

the drinking water does not contain—
(a) concentrations or values of any of the parameters listed in Tables A to D in Part II of this Schedule in excess of the prescribed concentrations or values;
(b) concentrations of trihalomethanes (being the aggregate of the concentrations of trichloromethane, dichlorobromomethane, dibromochloromethane and tribromomethane) in excess of 100 μg/l;

## 3 

in the case of drinking water prepared from water which has been softened or desalinated, its hardness is not below a minimum concentration of 60 mg Ca/l and its alkalinity is not below a minimum concentration of 30 mg HCO3/l.

## II: PRESCRIBED CONCENTRATIONS OR VALUES

TABLE A
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
Item
Parameters
Units of Measurement
Concentration or Value (maximum unless otherwise stated)
Note
(i) If silver is used in a water treatment process, 80 may be substituted for 10.
1.
Colour
mg/l Pt/Co scale
20
2.
Turbidity (including suspended solids)
Formazin turbidity units
4
3.
Odour (including hydrogen sulphide)
Dilution number
3 at 25°C
4.
Taste
Dilution number
3 at 25°C
5.
Temperature
°C
25
6.
Sulphate
mg SO4/l
250
7.
Magnesium
mg Mg/1
50
8.
Sodium
mg Na/l
150
9.
Potassium
mg K/1
12
10.
Dry residues
mg/l
1500(after drying at 180°C)
11.
Nitrate
mg NO3/l
50
12.
Nitrite
mg NO2/l
0.1
13.
Ammonium (ammonia and ammonium ions)
mg NH4/l
0.5
14.
Kjeldahl nitrogen
mg N/l
1
15.
Oxidizability (permanganate value)
mg O2/l
5
16.
Total organic carbon
mg C/l
No significant increase over that normally observed
17.
Dissolved or emulsified hydrocarbons (after extraction with petroleum ether); mineral oils
μg/l
10
18.
Phenols
μg C6H5OH/l
0.5
19.
Surfactants
μg/l (as lauryl sulphate)
200
20.
Aluminium
μg Al/l
200
21.
Iron
μg Fe/l
200
22.
Manganese
μg Mn/l
50
23.
Copper
μg Cu/l
3000
24.
Zinc
μg Zn/l
5000
25.
Phosphorus
μg P/l
2200
26.
Fluoride
μg F/l
1500
27.
Silver
μg Ag/l
10
TABLE B
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
Item
Parameters
Units of Measurement
Maximum Concentration
Notes
(i) The sum of the detected concentrations of individual substances.
(ii) The sum of the detected concentrations of fluoranthene, benzo 3.4 fluoranthene, benzo 11.12 fluoranthene, benzo 3.4 pyrene, benzo 1.12 perylene and indeno (1,2,3—cd) pyrene.
1.
Arsenic
μg As/l
50
2.
Cadmium
μg Cd/l
5
3.
Cyanide
μg CN/l
50
4.
Chromium
μg Cr/l
50
5.
Mercury
μg Hg/l
1
6.
Nickel
μg Ni/l
50
7.
Lead
μg Pb/l
50
8.
Antimony
μg Sb/l
10
9.
Selenium
μg Se/l
10
10.
Pesticides and related products:
(a) individual substances
μg/l
0.1
(b) total substances
μg/l
0.5
11.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
μg/l
0.2
TABLE C
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
Item
Parameters
Units of Measurement
Maximum Concentration
Note
(i) Analysis by multiple tube method.
(ii) The total viable colony count should be measured within 12 hours of bottling with the sample water being kept at a constant temperature during that 12-hour period. Any increase in the total viable colony count of the water between 12 hours after bottling and the time of sale shall not be greater than that normally expected.
1.
Total coliforms
number/100 ml
0
2.
Faecal coliforms
number/100 ml
0
3.
Faecal streptococci
number/100 ml
0
4.
Sulphite-reducing clostridia
number/20 ml
≤1
5.
Colony counts
number/1 ml at 22°C
100
number/1 ml at 37°C
20
TABLE D
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
Item
Parameters
Units of Measurement
Maximum Concentration or Value
1.
Conductivity
μS/cm
1500 at 20°C
2.
Chloride
mg Cl/l
400
3.
Calcium
mg Ca/l
250
4.
Substances extractable in chloroform
mg/l dry residue
1
5.
Boron
μg B/l
2000
6.
Barium
μg Ba/l
1000
7.
Benzo 3.4 pyrene
ng/l
10
8.
Tetrachloromethane
μg/l
3
9.
Trichloroethene
μg/l
30
10.
Tetrachloroethene
μg/l
10

## Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, implement the provisions of Council Directive 80/778/EEC (OJ No. L 229, 30.8.80, p. 11) relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption, in relation to drinking water which is bottled or sold in a bottle (as defined in regulation 2).
These Regulations do not apply to natural mineral waters or medicinal products (regulation 3).
The Regulations—
(a) prescribe the quality standards for drinking water sold in a bottle and provide that the bottling or sale of drinking water which fails to comply with any of those standards is an offence (regulation 4);
(b) provide a defence to a person who proves that the drinking water in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was intended for export and complied with the importing country’s domestic legislation corresponding to that alleged offence (regulation 5);
(c) prescribe penalties upon conviction of an offence (regulation 6);
(d) require the food authorities to enforce the Regulations (regulation 7);
(e) apply specified provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 8).
A copy of the Compliance Cost Assessment made for these Regulations has been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament and copies can be obtained from the Consumer Protection Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Ergon House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/743 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/drinking-water-in-containers-regulations-1994
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.