- DWI expressly includes caravan sites among Regulation 9 commercial/public supplies where private-source water is used for domestic purposes, irrespective of low volume.
- A park supplied by public-mains water and then distributing it through its own private network may instead be a Regulation 8 onward-distribution system.
- Regulation 9 uses Group A and Group B monitoring at volume-based frequencies, plus additional parameters identified by the local-authority risk assessment; Regulation 8 monitoring is risk-assessment-led rather than Group A/B.
- Static and holiday parks need special attention to long distribution networks, low-turnover branches, storage, seasonal occupancy, peak demand, treatment capacity, incidents and alternative-water planning.
Regulation 8 or Regulation 9?
For an England caravan or holiday park, the first question is where the water actually comes from. DWI's Regulation 9 guidance explicitly lists caravan sites, camp sites and similar facilities, whether seasonal or open all year, among businesses relying on a private supply for domestic purposes. Regulation 9 applies where a private supply provides 10 m³/day or more for domestic purposes, or where the water is supplied as part of a commercial or public activity. Commercial/public use is therefore a separate route into Regulation 9 from the volume threshold.
That does not mean every privately managed pipe network on a holiday park is automatically Regulation 9. DWI describes Regulation 8 as further distribution of water originally supplied by a water undertaker or licensed supplier, and its Regulation 8 Q&A lists caravan parks, mobile-home sites and campsites among premises where this can arise. DWI's revised 2024 guidance also contains an important legal caveat: from 31 July 2002, no new Regulation 8 supplies could be created under the historic private-supply agreement exception; arrangements created after that date may be unauthorised even though local authorities must regulate Regulation 8 supplies that exist. A park should therefore not assume that simply redistributing mains water makes a new arrangement lawful or straightforward.
For this guide, “private-source park” means a park taking water from a borehole, spring, well, surface source or other supply that is not provided directly by a water undertaker. “Onward-distribution park” means water supplied by a water company and then privately redistributed around the site.
Risk assessment for a caravan park
Under Regulation 6 in England, the local authority must carry out a risk assessment of the private water supply and review it at least every five years. DWI also says a review should be undertaken when the existing assessment is inadequate or circumstances have changed significantly. The park operator's practical role is to make the site intelligible: provide accurate plans, access, operating records and information about changes so the authority can assess the whole system rather than only a tap result.
A caravan-park risk assessment can be more complex than one for a single building because the supply may cross a large site and serve very different uses. Useful information includes:
- Source type, headworks, abstraction or collection arrangements and any mains connection or backup.
- Treatment stages, bypasses, alarms, maximum design flows and where treated water enters the park network.
- Raw and treated-water storage tanks, break tanks, booster pumps and pressure zones.
- Branches serving static caravans, privately owned holiday homes, rental units, residential mobile homes, lodges, staff accommodation and communal facilities.
- Clubhouse, café, bar, laundry, shower blocks and any food premises using the water for domestic or food-production purposes.
- Long dead-end branches, infrequently occupied units, isolated pitches and sections that are shut down for part of the year.
- Recent extensions, replacement mains, new storage, new units, leaks, pressure changes, source changes or treatment alterations.
Use the risk-assessment review-date tool to organise your own follow-up dates, but keep the distinction clear: the statutory Regulation 6 assessment is the local authority's function.
Monitoring: Group A, Group B and risk parameters
For a Regulation 9 supply, the local authority must carry out Group A monitoring and Group B monitoring, plus any additional monitoring shown to be necessary by the risk assessment. DWI states that the frequency is linked to the volume of water consumed for domestic purposes. Its overview of English private supplies describes the minimum Regulation 9 monitoring frequency as once a year.
Group A monitoring is used to assess specified microbiological, chemical and organoleptic parameters and treatment effectiveness. DWI lists nine parameters that are Group A in all Regulation 9 supplies in England: coliform bacteria, colony counts at 22°C, colour, conductivity, E. coli, pH, odour, taste and turbidity. Other parameters become Group A in defined circumstances. Group B covers the remaining relevant Schedule 1 standards and indicator parameters, subject to the Regulations and any permitted variation.
Do not copy that Group A/Group B regime onto a Regulation 8 park. DWI says Regulation 8 monitoring parameters and frequency are determined from the risk assessment and that the Regulations do not provide for Group A and Group B monitoring of Regulation 8 supplies.
The park should therefore keep the local authority's actual sampling schedule and full laboratory results rather than maintaining a homemade “annual test” rule. The sampling schedule tracker can help organise dates around the authority's programme.
Sampling points across a park
A static caravan park can have hundreds of taps but that does not create a universal requirement to sample every caravan. DWI says samples should be collected from a point where the water is consumed and that, when selecting a sampling point, it should best represent the water being consumed on the supply.
For a park, representative selection may need to take account of the network rather than convenience alone. Give the local authority or sampler an up-to-date schematic showing:
- the first and furthest consumer points on important branches;
- storage tanks and pressure zones;
- static-caravan and lodge areas with different occupancy patterns;
- communal buildings, food premises and staff/residential areas;
- low-turnover or historically problematic branches;
- areas added after the last risk assessment; and
- where private-source water and public-mains water meet or remain separate, if the park has both.
Record the exact sampled outlet and park zone with each result. A result labelled only “caravan park tap” is much less useful when you later need to investigate a branch-specific problem.
Distribution-network risks on static and holiday parks
The distribution system is a major reason this page is separate from the touring-campsite guide. Static parks can contain permanent buried mains, plot service pipes, isolation valves, privately owned unit plumbing, storage and long spurs serving accommodation that may be empty for weeks or months. Water quality at the source does not remove risks created later in the system.
Keep a source-to-tap schematic that shows which person or organisation controls each part of the network. The practical questions include: Where can a branch be isolated? Which units sit beyond a storage tank? Are there low-use dead ends? What happens after a burst or pressure loss? Which sections were modified when units were relocated or replaced?
Stagnation, contamination ingress following damaged pipework, poorly protected storage, cross-connections and operational changes should be considered through the site-specific risk assessment. Do not rely on “we have never had a bad sample” as the control measure; DWI's Regulation 6 guidance explicitly treats risk assessment as a whole-system, proactive process rather than end-point sampling alone.
Seasonal shutdown and reopening
DWI's Regulation 9 classification applies to caravan sites whether seasonal or open all year. Closing the park to visitors does not make the network disappear. A managed shutdown should leave a clear record of what was isolated, drained, left full, protected, serviced or taken out of use, based on the park's risk assessment and competent technical advice.
Reopening is not simply a matter of turning the source and pumps back on. The park should follow its documented operating procedure, investigate damage or alarms, restore treatment correctly, address stagnant or low-use sections as required by the risk assessment, and complete any checks or sampling required by the local authority or competent professional before normal guest use.
A shorter winter closure does not automatically become a Regulation 13 reinstatement, but it can still create operational risks that need to be managed. Record reopening work so the next manager can see what was actually done and when.
Treatment, storage and peak capacity
Holiday parks often have a steep difference between quiet-season and peak-season demand. Where treatment is part of the control system, verify it against the maximum realistic flow, not the average winter load. DWI's UV guidance says the maximum design flow rate should not be exceeded and that lamp condition, UV intensity, water quality and residence time all affect effective disinfection.
For larger supplies with storage and a substantial distribution network, DWI notes that chlorination may be more suitable where it is necessary to maintain a disinfectant residual through storage and distribution. That is not a rule that every caravan park must chlorinate: treatment must follow the source risks, water quality, system design and competent assessment.
Useful evidence includes equipment specifications, commissioning information, pre-treatment requirements, alarm settings, service records, lamp and sleeve work, chemical dosing records where applicable, filter changes, tank inspections and any competent review after the park expands. If the number of occupied units rises materially, revisit whether source yield, pumps, storage and treatment still match the changed demand.
The treatment maintenance planner and storage-tank capacity calculator can support operational planning; they do not replace professional design or the local authority's regulatory functions.
Incidents, insufficiency and guest/resident communication
A caravan park needs an incident plan that works at full occupancy. DWI recommends clear, achievable contingency procedures for interruptions caused by drought, planned distribution work or unplanned failures, including arrangements for alternative supplies. It highlights this as particularly important for Regulation 9 supplies.
Build the plan around the park layout. Know who can isolate a zone, who receives treatment alarms, how affected owners or guests are contacted, which occupied units may contain vulnerable people, how an alternative supply would be distributed, and how the park will record instructions received from the local authority.
If the water may present a danger to health, follow the local authority's instructions and any restrictions immediately. If the issue is loss of supply, low source yield or pressure failure, contact the authority promptly and use the park's documented contingency arrangements. The emergency water requirement calculator can help estimate planning quantities, but the actual emergency response must follow authoritative advice.
Records worth keeping
DWI recommends accurate records, maintenance diaries, schematics and plans because they support risk assessment and ongoing management. For a caravan or holiday park, keep records that let another competent person reconstruct what happened without relying on staff memory:
- Current source-to-tap schematic and park distribution map.
- Local-authority risk assessment, review correspondence and identified actions.
- Monitoring programme, exact sample locations, complete laboratory reports and investigations.
- Treatment specifications, maximum design flows, alarms, servicing, consumables and repairs.
- Storage, source, pump, valve and distribution inspections.
- Seasonal shutdown and reopening records.
- Leaks, bursts, pressure incidents, complaints, restrictions and corrective-action close-out evidence.
- Changes to units, buildings, pipework, storage, treatment or sources.
- Emergency contacts, alternative-water arrangements and communication templates.
- Responsibility agreements where the source, park network and individual unit plumbing are controlled by different parties.
Regulation 14's statutory private-supply record retention duty is on the local authority, which DWI says must keep those records for at least 30 years. Do not turn that into an unsupported claim that every park operator is personally subject to the same 30-year file-retention rule. Your own retention policy should nevertheless preserve the evidence needed to manage the supply, demonstrate maintenance history and support future risk assessments.
Practical caravan-park checklist
- Confirm the actual source and whether the local authority treats the network as Regulation 8, Regulation 9 or another arrangement.
- Keep the current Regulation 6 risk assessment and resulting actions accessible.
- Maintain a map of source, treatment, storage, pumps, pressure zones and all important consumer branches.
- Keep the local authority's monitoring schedule and record exact sample points.
- Document low-use areas, long branches, seasonal sections and recent network alterations.
- Check treatment, source yield, pumping and storage capacity against peak occupancy.
- Record winter shutdown and reopening work; involve the local authority before reinstating a supply after 12 months of non-use.
- Give staff a clear escalation route for treatment alarms, unusual taste/odour/colour, illness concerns, low pressure and loss of supply.
- Keep alternative-water and communication arrangements ready for a busy-period incident.
- Update the risk information when the park adds units, lodges, facilities, sources, storage or treatment.
Frequently asked questions
Does a caravan or holiday park with its own borehole or spring fall under Regulation 9?
Where private-source water is supplied for domestic purposes as part of the caravan or holiday park commercial/public activity, DWI expressly includes caravan sites within Regulation 9. This applies irrespective of low volume. The local authority determines the position for the actual supply arrangement.
What if the park receives public-mains water and distributes it to caravans or mobile homes?
That arrangement may be a Regulation 8 onward-distribution system rather than a Regulation 9 private-source supply. DWI lists caravan parks and mobile-home sites among premises that can fall within Regulation 8, but its revised guidance says new Regulation 8 supplies could not be created under the historic exception after 31 July 2002 and later arrangements may be unauthorised. The local authority must determine the regulatory position for the actual network.
Does every static caravan or lodge need a regulatory sample?
No universal rule requires every unit to be sampled at every monitoring visit. DWI says samples should be taken from a point where water is consumed and selected so that the point represents the water being consumed. The local authority sets the monitoring and sampling programme.
Can a seasonal caravan park simply turn the water back on when it reopens?
A seasonal network should be managed through its risk assessment and documented operating procedures. If a private supply has been out of use for 12 months or more, DWI treats it as a reinstated supply under Regulation 13 and says it should not be put back into domestic use until the local authority has completed the required risk assessment and determined monitoring.
How often is a Regulation 9 caravan-park supply monitored?
Regulation 9 supplies are subject to Group A and Group B monitoring at frequencies based on the volume of water consumed, plus additional monitoring identified by the risk assessment. DWI describes the minimum frequency for Regulation 9 supplies as once a year.
Why does peak summer occupancy matter for treatment design?
Treatment performance depends on the real operating conditions. DWI guidance for UV units states that the maximum design flow rate should not be exceeded, and it notes that chlorination may be more suitable for larger supplies where a disinfectant residual is needed through storage and distribution.
Do caravan-park operators have to keep every private-water-supply record for 30 years?
Regulation 14 places the 30-year private-supply record retention duty on the local authority. DWI nevertheless recommends accurate operational records, maintenance diaries, schematics and plans because they support risk assessment and effective management of the supply.
Keep water records tied to the real caravan-park network.
Use the free tools or start a 7-day trial to organise monitoring, treatment maintenance, seasonal work, incidents, documents and corrective actions around one source-to-tap record.
- DWI: Regulation 8 onward distribution
- DWI: Regulation 9 commercial and public supplies
- DWI: Regulation 6 risk assessment
- DWI: Regulation 7 monitoring
- DWI: What sampling is required?
- DWI: Regulation 13 new and reinstated supplies
- DWI: UV disinfection
- DWI: Managing insufficiency of private water supplies
- DWI: Record keeping
- DWI: Regulation 14 local-authority records
- Legislation.gov.uk: Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016
- Legislation.gov.uk: Private Water Supplies (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018
This guide is England-focused. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different private-water-supply legislation and regulatory arrangements. Regulatory guidance can change; check the current DWI material and your local authority for the position applying to your supply.