Federal Law on Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal as amended

In the apartments of multi-storey buildings or private houses connected to the central system, moisture enters through pipelines from natural sources. The quality of water in rivers and lakes, as well as artesian wells, must comply with sanitary standards. This also applies to engineering structures, water mains and treatment plants. Impurities in wastewater should not exceed the indicators established by SanPiN, and must be cleaned before being discharged into the natural environment. All these points are spelled out in the Federal Law No. 416 "On water supply and wastewater disposal". Also, the legislation regulates the relationship between consumers and supplier organizations.

What is regulated by the Federal Law "On Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal"

The State Duma adopted a normative act back in 2011. But the federal law is still valid to this day. Amendments and changes are made to it, in order to comply with modern realities. The document regulates all relationships in the field of drinking water supply and sewage disposal.

The main points that are subject to legislative regulation:

• The quality and safety of moisture supplied to consumers using cold and hot water supply networks, including water supply in an open circuit from heat supply sources. This is necessary to create a favorable sanitary and epidemic situation in the country.
• Safety of household and industrial effluents that are discharged into water bodies.
• Hot water supply rules and quality assurance.
• Commercial metering of drinking moisture and effluents, that is, determining the volumes of water supplied and received over a certain time using meters or by calculation.

Quality and safety means a complex of water characteristics, including physicochemical, biological, organoleptic indicators, including temperature properties.

The nuances of water supply to military and defense facilities are established by additional decrees of the government of the Russian Federation.

Basic Provisions

The normative legal act is intended to confirm the government policy in relation to water supply to the population and the preservation of the ecological balance when receiving effluents. Basic concepts disclosed in the law:

• protecting the health of Russians by protecting the quality of the supplied moisture;
• increasing the economic and energy efficiency of water supply and sewerage networks;
• high-quality wastewater treatment;
• development of new technological solutions and introduction of modern devices;
• availability of receipt and removal of liquids.

The law regulates the forms and methods of managing water supply and sewerage systems, as well as the relationship between suppliers and consumers.

The document confirms the guarantees of the state to the population. These include:

• providing consumers with cold and hot water, the ability to drain fecal wastewater;
• availability of water supply resources for all citizens;
• adjustment of the efficient operation of the central network supplying hot and cold water, as well as waste systems;
• attracting investment to the industry;
• transparency of the work of organizations involved in the supply and disposal of water.

Economic factors are also taken into account, as well as the peculiarities of quality control and examination of wastewater before discharge into natural sources or soil.

Last changes

The revision of the normative act is carried out annually in accordance with changes in society, economic changes and the development of innovative technologies. The amendments correct the sound of the paragraphs of the articles and add additional nuances. Some of the changes made over the past three years will be of interest to service consumers:

• An additional clause was added to part 19 of article 41.1 It regulates the expenses of the tenant, which can be reimbursed from the state budget.
• Article 2, paragraph 15, states that individual entrepreneurs may also be considered organizations that supply and receive water from consumers.
• Part 2 of Article 41.2 states that the subscriber must pay the debts to the economic organization before the expiration of the lease agreement.

An interesting change appeared in part 4 of article 35 of the normative act. It regulates the rules for checking organizations that provide hot water supply, cold water supply and sewerage. The inclusion of verification activities in the annual plan is possible if the date of the previous inspections has expired.

The most recent additions took effect from the beginning of 2019. Chapter 5 has been completely replaced, the topic of which was environmental protection in the field of water supply. Instead, Chapter 5 (1) was created to regulate the discharge of effluents into central sewerage systems. It tightens control over pollution from domestic and industrial sewers.

According to the new chapter, the subscribers were removed from the obligation to develop and agree on the norms of permissible discharges. Now this should be dealt with by local self-government bodies of cities and towns where water supply and sewerage networks are laid. At the same time, they take into account all the requirements that are spelled out in the Water Code, regulations governing the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country and environmental protection.

Subscribers are required to draw up a plan of measures to reduce the volume of effluents if they exceeded the standards twice or more, or allowed a single discharge, but three times. This plan will have to be approved by local committees for nature management and environmental safety.

In the same part of the Federal Law, subscribers are indicated the need:

• build and modernize VOCs or rent from business organizations;
• to create water recycling systems;
• introduce modern production technologies, improve the quality of services, carry out regular work to reduce the volume of pollutants in wastewater.

The penalties for violators of wastewater standards have changed. If they are exceeded twice or more times during the year, or the pollution indicators turn out to be higher than the norm, such violations are considered gross. The subscriber will be punished for a round sum. Overshooting fees and penalties will depend on the waste class.

Legislative nuances important for water consumers

Some articles have not changed since the adoption of the law. However, it is worth leafing through them for those who are interested in receiving high-quality water and saving on utilities.

Article 18 part 13 tells how to pay for connecting to a centralized network. The amount of expenses is calculated by the business organization. In the event that a subscriber has requested a larger amount of water or an excess of wastewater is required, the payment for the used water is calculated individually. Connection is not included in this amount, it is paid separately. In this case, the costs depend on the distance to the connection site, the permissible maximum load on the water supply network.

Article 20 talks about what is subject to commercial accounting. They pay for water flows supplied to residents of multi-storey buildings or private houses connected to a centralized network, as well as drains and their subsequent purification. The payment includes the transportation of liquids through pipes and initial preparation for household needs.

Article 21 describes the moments when a business organization has the right to restrict, suspend and completely cut off the supply of water or sewage discharges. Article 22 regulates the specifics of carrying out repair work at various water supply and sewerage facilities.

The problems of ensuring the quality of drinking water, withdrawal and treatment of sewage waste do not lose their relevance. Their effective solution speaks of the socio-economic and technological development of the state, the reliability of the operation of housing and communal facilities.

Legislative regulation of water supply and sanitation is necessary, since the activities of service providers in this area pose a potential threat to the life and health of citizens and the state of the environment.