Building a new home or building
If you’re building a new home or commercial building, there are several things you need to take into account.
For new homes or commercial properties (such as a shop, office or industrial building), unless you’re planning on harvesting rainwater, you will probably need a new connection to our water main, as well as a new connection to the sewer to take wastewater away.
New water connection
In most built up areas there's a water main in the road or footpath nearby which we can connect your property to. For more rural areas, the water mains may be further away, meaning we may need to lay a new pipe.
For commercial buildings, if it needs a large amount of water, especially water used in industrial processing, you may need a larger sized water connection.
Find out more here.
New fire sprinkler water connection
- This is only relevant if you are building a new property or converting an existing property in Wales.
- In 2011, the Welsh Government implemented the Domestic Fire Safety (Wales) Measure making fire sprinkler systems mandatory in all new domestic properties. Find out more here.
New sewer connection
In urban areas there are often nearby public sewers you can connect to. In more rural areas, they may be further away.
In Wales, the majority of all new sewers must be adopted by us before they are built. Find out more about connections here. Find out more about sewer adoptions here.
Sustainable drainage
- This is only relevant to new developments of more than one building or a construction area of 100m2 or more in Wales.
- These new developments will require consent from the sustainable drainage system (SuDS) approval body (also known as a SAB) for any new SuDS features, according to Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, before planning permission is granted.
- Find out more here.
Don’t forget
- You might also be eligible for our surface water incentive scheme if you have plans to remove surface water from the wastewater network.
Before you dig
- If you’re building on land, then it’s a good idea to identify whether there are any of our pipes in the ground first. Any damage caused to our pipes is an offence under the Water Industry Act 1991.
- To find out whether your land contains any of our pipes, click here.