Communication pipe

A term defined by subtraction[edit]

The two related terms are both statutory. Section 219(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 defines the service pipe as the whole length carrying water from the main to the premises under pressure from that main.^[1] The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 define the supply pipe as so much of any service pipe as is not vested in the water undertaker.^[2] Communication pipe is the name the industry gives to the remainder.

This is worth stating plainly because the term is often presented as though it carried a legal definition of its own. It does not. Its content follows entirely from what the undertaker owns, and it is therefore the vesting position, not the label, that decides responsibility for a leak.

Where the boundary falls in practice[edit]

In typical modern arrangements the undertaker's length runs from the main in the highway to a stop tap at or near the property boundary, and the customer's supply pipe runs from there into the building. The external stop tap is widely used as the marker for the change of ownership and in most cases it is where the change occurs.

It is a marker rather than a definition. Older connections, shared service pipes serving several properties, and pipes altered during past works can all place the vesting boundary somewhere other than the stop tap. Where a leak sits close to the boundary and responsibility is contested, the question to answer is which party the pipe is vested in at the point of the leak, and that is a question about the connection's history rather than about the position of a valve.

Relevance to leak detection[edit]

Because the communication pipe and the supply pipe are buried, continuous and visually identical, distinguishing them on site is a matter of locating the leak accurately and then establishing the boundary, not of inspecting the pipe. Acoustic methods, leak noise correlation and tracer gas are all used to fix the position of an underground leak precisely enough for that determination to be made.

Where the leak proves to be on the undertaker's length, repair is the undertaker's responsibility. Where it is on the supply pipe, it is the owner's, subject to any discretionary repair scheme the undertaker operates.

Connection and the undertaker's duties[edit]

Section 45 of the Water Industry Act 1991 places a duty on the undertaker to make a connection between its main and a service pipe on application, subject to the conditions of that section.^[3] It is through that connection process that the undertaker's length of pipe comes into existence, and section 52 sets out the duty to supply water for domestic purposes to premises so connected.^[4]