Changing Shared water supply

dinky73

I was hoping someone in the know may be able help me. We are currently renovating a house and have discovered we share a mains water supply with nextdoor. This is having an effect on the water pressure (we've done a pressure test) and as we are replacing our boiler with a high pressure one we want to have sufficient high pressure. Our plumber feels its better long term to sort this situation whike we have all the outside dug up anyway (we are moving the drainage).

Our water company is Veolia (Hertfordshire) and I was wondering if anyone knew the costs involved of them connecting our own supply if my plumbers run the new pipe to our boundary (builders/plumbers happy to do all the work up to the boundary). As ever on a project like this costs are mounting up but I do feel it's worth sorting our own water supply now. Just thought I'd get some advice here before contacting Veolia.

Many thanks.

spiro

This is a direct copy from the FAQ page (see text in green):

Separating your supply

If you are thinking about separating your supply from your neighbour's, your plumber will be able to lay the new pipes. Please note that we do not carry out the work on your side of the boundary and you would need to arrange for your own contractor to carry out the work. If your external stop tap is within your property boundary (i.e. not on the public footpath or road), your own plumber can make the connection to our mains, subject to the usual water regulations.

Usually, you or your contactor, will not be allowed work on the public highway, so you will need to ask us to connect the new pipe to our water main, if it is outside your boundary. You will need to contact our Developer Services team to arrange this connection. We may make a charge for this service and the Developer Services team would be pleased to help. You can fnd their contact details by [URL="javascript:getAnswer('rn66')"]clicking here[/URL]

Please do not undertake any construction works on your side of the property boundary until you have informed Developer Services of your connection requirements. This will help to prevent delays to your application and any unforseen costs or further construction works should the wrong pipe be installed or the wrong route followed.

You should also note that, in the absence of a soil analysis report, the pipe material specified will be [URL="javascript:getAnswer('rn187')"]barrier pipe[/URL].

dinky73

Thanks Spiro, very helpful!

deanos

You will be looking around £1000-£1500 for connection (depending on amount of dig) , then if traffic lights required roughly an extra £500 on top , if a road closure roughly required extra £1500 on top.

It all depends on where the main is and what your road is like

You also need to find where it Tees off and cap off as you cant leave any old pipe in place as it will become a dead leg and contaminate the neighbours water

They will come out and give you a quote

Saying all that if it is a lead supply then the connection would be free (lead free replacement) (but you still need to pay for lights etc) but you neighbour would have to also get there's renewed at same time to qualify

dinky73

Thanks, that give me an idea of potential costs. There are no lights involved but not sure if they'd need to close the road at all. Its a quiet suburban street but I suppose it depends where the pipe is and how much they have to dig up. Thanks for the heads up.

spiro

You need to find the main water company stop !!!! because this will determine any issues with them connecting into the mains. It could be in the pavement or even in your front garden which means there should be no issues with permits etc.

dinky73

spiro wrote: »

You need to find the main water company stop !!!! because this will determine any issues with them connecting into the mains. It could be in the pavement or even in your front garden which means there should be no issues with permits etc.

Thanks, and thats relatively easy and obvious to spot? I'll ask my builder to have a look when he's there next.

deanos

spiro wrote: »

You need to find the main water company stop !!!! because this will determine any issues with them connecting into the mains. It could be in the pavement or even in your front garden which means there should be no issues with permits etc.

This isn't true, the new supply will be connected to the mains so the water main determines what traffic management is required, even if the stop tap is on private property the new pipe needs taking to the boundary as the water company wont dig on private land

spiro

deanos wrote: »

This isn't true, the new supply will be connected to the mains so the water main determines what traffic management is required, even if the stop tap is on private property the new pipe needs taking to the boundary as the water company wont dig on private land

When I looked on the Veolia website they mentioned the stopcock as being the relevant point not the main. They also advised if you dig the trench all the way to the meter (after they have visited) you can do this rather than paying them to do it.

deanos

Just looked and cant see any mention of stop tap, the main is the relevant point as this is where connection takes place

https://central.veoliawater.co.uk/docs/guidance-for-new-connections.pdf

Your new service pipe is laid by us from the existing Veolia Water Central Ltd main in the public highway to the site
boundary; please refer to the above drawing.