Installing new water supply to paddock

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DiggoryVenn

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Hello, please can anyone advise?
I am applying to SW Water for a new water supply to my field. What diameter pipe should I request to run about 25 metres and to feed a water trough and a tap? And then do I need a plumber or what? What will the water supply actually comprise? I will be asking SW Water to dig the trench. thanks
 
DiggoryVenn said:
Hello, please can anyone advise?
I am applying to SW Water for a new water supply to my field. What diameter pipe should I request to run about 25 metres and to feed a water trough and a tap? And then do I need a plumber or what? What will the water supply actually comprise? I will be asking SW Water to dig the trench. thanks
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Why do you need to ask SWW to run the supply? They will be very expensive. Can you not connect to your existing supply?
 
Get someone to dig the trench for you or sometimes the pipe can be moled in (i.e. dragged through the ground with a thing like a plough behind a tractor). Moling works quite well if the soil is suitable and shouldn't cost much, but for 25 metres, someone young and fit could do it by hand, depending on the soil and availability of tools!

If you are getting a connection from the water company, I assume you are connecting to the main? If so, they will put on a stop cock and a fitting for you to connect your pipe to.

I think you might want to talk to a plumber!
 
Yes, agree with Dry Rot, speak to a local farmer, let them do the ground work if poss, it would be far cheaper. A water company will be the most expensive way possible!
 
Honey08 said:
Yes, agree with Dry Rot, speak to a local farmer, let them do the ground work if poss, it would be far cheaper. A water company will be the most expensive way possible!
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This!!!!

I'm presuming that you're taking the pipe from your nearest mains water inlet???? It will cost you a FORTUNE if you let SWW do this; probably they would not undertake to do it anyway, and would probably steer you towards one of their "approved" contractors, who will still cost you a fortune.

If you're installing water to troughs etc., please make sure that your plumber is aware that there are statutory regulations which you will need to adhere to. We fitted a whole lot of pipes and had hosepipes on the end; and had to re-do it all which cost about £500. We had an enforcement officer out and he wasn't happy that we'd fitted taps and put hosepipes on the end....... he said that IF we'd put a bucket underneath, you can get something called "soakback" which if for instance the water in the bucket was soapy, or had gunk in it, could get back into the mains water supply, i.e. if the pressure in the mains was low, it could get sucked back into the mains supply.

I would ring SWW and ask their surveyor/enforcement chappie to come out and do a site visit with you. Explain what you want to do and ask them what you need to do to be compliant with the relevant regs. He/she will probably then give you a little booklet all about "Agricultural" water fittings, with technical specifications. Your plumber/contractor will need to adhere to this. There are also regulations re. pipe lagging, depth of pipes etc etc.

It would be cheaper in the long run to as SWW for their advice, and do as they say, as then you shouldn't have any "enforcement" issues and have to re-do work :( It really isn't worth doing it without consulting them first TBH.
 
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SWW will only do the pipe to the metre which will be at the roadside and other people have said you will need and contractor or farmer to use a subsoiler to put the pipe to trough or stable and a plumber to connect it all up for you. I could be expensive.
My neighbours water pipe runs across my land about 1/2 a mile because the houses were once part of the same farm and both water metres are 1/2 a mile a way, the pipes are 3 feet deep.
 
Our connection bill was £1200. Then we laid the pipe to where we wanted the tap, then we had to have the tap in place for the water company to inspect. The cost for digging the 250mtr trench and laying the pipe was £250. The water company advised me to get a local contractor to keep the cost sensible. Hope this helps.
 
Cripes! I am shocked at the costs!

There were no water troughs on my 30 acre farm when I moved in. I have put troughs in all the fields, mostly by myself, including another 10 or so self fill water bowls. One length of a few hundred yards was mole ploughed in by my neighbour and is probably only below plough depth (15 inches?) and it has never frozen even though winter temperatures go below 10 degrees here. But this is Scotland and our water is not metered and I suppose there is less red tape.

Honestly, I'd have a word with a neighbouring farmer before paying out big money. Alkathene and plastic fittings are cheap enough and 25 metres is nothing.
 
The water company will tell you where the nearest connection is to the main and they will do the actual mains end of the connection with a meter,stopcock and manhole. You will have to arrange the piping from wherever the water company puts your meter to your own land. They may or may not put your connection adjacent to your land. If not you will have to ask any landowners in between for a waylease to allow you to take your pipe under their land and this will have to be legally drawn up so that you can get access to maintain said pipe in the event of problems.The water board will charge you, the landowner will charge you (maybe) the solicitor will charge you and a farmer who moles the pipe in will charge you. It could be very expensive or if you are lucky not too bad!
I have had to put a new main in to the house and as the nearest connection is 1/2 mile away and the old iron pipe ran under the highway it was not cheap. The hardest part was persuading the water board that their main did not run where they thought. I was right but they insisted I was not and spent two days digging trenches across the road trying to find their own main that was not there!!! They then tried to make me pay for this - no chance!!
 
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