Locate existing assets

All of our water mains are protected under the terms of the Water Industry Act 1991. Any excavation or construction work in the vicinity of our apparatus is therefore strictly regulated.

How to locate existing assets

If you are a developer or acting directly for a developer, please contact us in the early planning stages of any project. Whether it is a multi-million pound development or a small extension to a house, the cost of relocating our apparatus or the time involved in doing so may have a significant bearing on your scheme, so it’s important that you get in touch as soon as possible.

Please also contact us if you are excavating within the public highway. We will send you a plan that shows the approximate location of our apparatus and offer advice on what you should do next. We do not charge for this service.

How to make a request to locate existing assets

Requests should be sent via email to developer.interface@bristolwater.co.uk and should include the full postal address with postcode (if known), and/or the coordinates of the location of interest.

For the majority of enquiries, we also require that you provide a plan with the area of concern highlighted/circled. However, in the case of individual residential properties in urban areas that are easy to locate, you do not have to include a location plan, but it would be helpful if you did.

How long does a request for locating existing assets take?

Our target time to respond to these enquiries is 10 working days, although plans are often sent out much sooner.

If it is obvious when we receive your enquiry that you have not included sufficient information, we will try to let you know within three working days.

On occasion, it is only after trying to produce the plans that it becomes apparent we have not received enough information. In these cases it may take a little longer to let you know.

Useful information about locating existing assets

Historically, mains were laid with 760mm of cover in footpaths/verges and 910mm of cover in roads.

Although our current mainlaying specification is now different from this, the majority of the mains shown on our plans can be assumed to be at around these depths.

We do not normally keep records of service pipes. However, a number of such pipes may be indicated upon the ordnance survey sheets that we send out. No guarantee as to the accuracy of this information can be given.

If you are proposing to excavate in the vicinity of our apparatus or if, after having received your plan, you require further information concerning the section of service pipe belonging to the company, you should contact our customer service team and ask to speak to a Network Technical Manager or Network Administrator.

If you are proposing to construct something that would permanently and adversely affect one of our mains you should contact the Developer Interface Team and enquire about diverting it.

Please note that Bristol Water does not deal with enquiries concerning drainage/sewerage and we advise you to contact the relevant sewerage provider. In most cases this will be Wessex Water but it may also be Severn Trent Water or Thames Water.