1. CASE STUDY: BOREHOLE INSPECTION PROGRAM –
CROSS CONNECTIONS
HERE WE HAVE 4 EXAMPLES OF THE PROCESS OF HOW I DECIDE IF A FARM IS WORTH INSPECTING IN ORDER TO
LOCATE A CROSS CONNECTION.
BGS = BritishGeological Society EA = EnvironmentAgency
QuickLinkcross connection – as youcan see onthe leftisthe Borehole
connectionandonthe rightisthe mainsconnection.The quicklinkcanjustbe
seenonthe right handside.This farmerwasissuedwithasection75 and the
workto be done isas follows;
Cut back andcap mains pipe to before the tap Or hardpipe mainsintoheader
tank with correct AA or AB air gap.
METHOD
Afterseeingthatthe consumptionhadreducedonthe meterbyoverhalf andthat thisfarm apparentlyhasa
Borehole according toBGS & the EA,I decidedthatI had to urgentlyvisitthe site. The chance that the farm hada
backupfor itsborehole was toohigh so I made ita toppriorityto visitthissite.

2. DirectCross connection –Black pipe cominginfromthe top ismainswater,the
horizontal pipe isthe Borehole.The preventiononthissetupisjustnotfitfor
purpose.There isa pumpon the systemwhichcouldleadtomasscontamination
givena mainspressure dropinthe area anda failure of the valves.Worktobe
done;
Remove physical linkin the first instance,hard pipemainsinto header tank in
farm buildingwithappropriateAAor AB air gap Or cut and cap mainsand
providebackup power source for Borehole pumps.
METHOD
Thispropertysupposedlyhada Borehole andInoticedthatit alsohad mains(thisis the basicsof finding properties
which are likely to havea crossconnection) Ialsonoticedthat fora farmwithcattle it seemedthatthe consumption
was notaddingup,thisbill showsonlydomestic use whichimmediatelygivesanindicationthatthe mainsonsite
couldalsobe leadingtoa connectionincase of emergency.
PLEASE SEE BELOW LARGE PICTURE OF A DIRECT CROSS CONNECTION TO A PIGGERY

3. TAP
TAP
Underground pipe continuation
MAINS SUPPLY
PIGGERY
NON TREATED
BOREHOLE WATER
TREATED
BOREHOLE
WATER
TAP
FARMHOUSE
MAINS SUPPLY

4. Directcross connection – the mainswatercomesinfrom the rightas shownon the diagramabove,the connectionis
straightintothe filteredBorehole waterwhichcomesfromanotherpartof the farmand the none filteredBorehole
waterwhichcomesdirectfromsource.There isone pipe whichfeedsdomesticandanotherwhichfeedsapiggery.
Thisis one of the bestexamplesIhave foundof a cross connectionasitcame withinstructionsanddiagramsof how
the setupworked.The diagrams(andmyown) show that there isa loopundergroundwhichconnectsthe pipes
together.The onlycontrolsonthe system are the tapsyou can see.The same farmerhas 5 otherpropertiesall with
the same setup,he isaware that the connectionshouldnotbe inplace andis now on the righttracks of fixingthe
problem.Workto be done;
Remove physical linkin the first instance,hard pipemainsinto header tank infarm buildingwithappropriateAA
or AB airgap Or cut andcap mainsand providebackuppower source for Borehole pumps. Do thisfor all sites and
provideproof ofworks being carried out.
METHOD
I saw thatthis propertyhada negative readingof 8m3/hon one of the monthswhichcouldbe one of two things,a
meterfaultor the use of a cross connection.Itookitto be the latterand decidedtohave a lookformyself.The
propertyhadto have anothersupplyof wateras it isa pig unitand agricultural site soneedswaterforatleastsome
of itsprocesses.There ishardlyanywaterbeingusedthroughthe meteratall exceptata guess,onlywhenthe
Borehole hasfailed.

5. QuickLinkcross connection – Thiscustomerhad onlyeverusedthe quick
linkonce in30 years.He has itsealedeitherendandthe quicklinkhasto
be bracketedon.I issuedasection75 and made the customeraware of
the riskto himself andothersinthe areaif he were toconnect this up.
Withhimnot beingable tolocate the stop tap I decidedtouse myown
judgementand clearlystatedthatif he were touse the cross connection
he wouldbe prosecuted.Worktobe done;
No physical workto be carried out,customer is aware that if he were to
use this crossconnectionhe wouldface prosecution.Accountwill be
checked to see if usagespikes (otherthan a burst)
METHOD
From our billingsystemInoticedaspike inthe usage inApril 2014, I alsosaw that there were afew recordsof high
usage out of the normal.Due tothis site alsoapparentlyhavingaBorehole Idecidedtotake a lookat the site and
see whatI couldfind.Iwas once again expectingtofindsome formof backup forthe Borehole wateronsite.The
Farm ismainlydairycattle so the usage inwaterwouldhugelyincrease if onmains.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXAMPLE OF A GOOD INSTALL AND WHAT WE WANT TO SEE ON
BOREHOLE SITES

6. Thisinstallationwaswhatwe wanttosee when
we get to a site,especiallyone whichhadalarm
bellsringingwithitsmeterreadings (asseenat
the bottomof the page). Unfortunatelythis
installationisstill notentirelytothe regulations
as it hasan AFair gap whichisan obstructionto
the overflow.The customerisaware of this.
The tank has mains waterintothe top and
borehole waterintothe bottom,the pipe with
the white label onitisthe overflowfromthe
tank. The farmerexplainedthe massivechange
inreadingsas beingaleakwhichhad to be
isolatedbyturningoff the mainstoptap.
Thiswas a recentinstall ona poultry farm,we
wantto findthissort of install onall newsites.
Hopefullywiththe correctAA,ABairgapinplace
METHOD
The readingon the AMR metermade me thinkthat the farm had simplyreduceditsmainsconsumptionand
switchedovertoitsborehole in2014, Takingthe historyintoconsiderationIdecidedtotake a lookformyself.We
knewthe site hada borehole thankstothe BGS & EA records.
Robert Mulderrig- Yorkshire Water- Water Regulations– 07790616382 - Robert.mulderrig@yorkshirewater.co.uk