Drinking Water Regulation – Condominium Responsabilities

A new regulation recently came into effect regarding the responsibility of Condominiums to assure that the water that arrives in their building meets current legal hygienic norms. A recent High Court ruling assigns this responsibility in equal parts to the city’s public utility (in Florences case, the manager of Publiacqua) and to each building. Publiacqua is responsible for the water up to the point of the water meters (contatori) but, from that point to the faucets, the building administrator or each private owner must check the quality of the water.
In a nut shell, it is now each owners responsibility to check the water that comes out of the taps, since the pipes from the water meters into the various properties are not under the jurisdiction of City Council (Publiacqua).
This implies further responsibilities and duties for each Condominium administrator, although there are not yet any laws that force such controls on either the administrators or the private citizens. However, there are high fines and possible legal consequences if such controls are not made knowing that there could be some issues with the water system in the building or house.
Therefore, most Condominium administrators are starting to hire private companies to check the quality of the water directly from the taps in each house or apartment, in order to avoid any future claims or complaints against them. The cost of these tests will of course be borne by the owners of the properties, but it shouldnt be too high; probably in the range of Euro 150 (plus VAT) total for a small condominium.

Reference :

D. Lgs 31\2001 – art. 1 lett. b – and art. 5
Ministry of Health 10 June 2004
2015/1787/UE
D.M. 14 June 2017