
1 
These Regulations may be cited as the Drinking Water in Containers Regulations 1994 and shall come into force on 1st April 1994.
2 

(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 
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 

(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 
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 
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 
Each food authority shall enforce and execute these Regulations within its area.
8 

(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.
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 1994John Redwood
Secretary of State for Wales
11th March 1994Hector Monro
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office
2nd March 1994
THE SCHEDULE
Regulation 4(1)
PART I:
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.
PART II:

TABLE A
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4
Item Parameters Units of Measurement Concentration or Value (maximum unless otherwise stated)
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
Note


TABLE B
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4
Item Parameters Units of Measurement Maximum Concentration
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
Notes



TABLE C
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4
Item Parameters Units of Measurement Maximum Concentration
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
Note



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