RESIDENTS in Penistone who have a private water supply could see their rates increase by hundreds of pounds every year because of a European Directive on water testing.
Previously people with private supplies, of which there are 59 in the Penistone area, have been having their supplies tested every few years for the contaminants.
Now the European Union has added new substances for which testing should be carried out, many of which are naturally occurring and cannot be removed anyway.
The EU also says the tests need to be done more often.
Coun Robert Barnard said: “This imposes an additional burden on a small minority of people who obtain their water from a well, borehole or spring rather than through the mains supply.”
There was one provision in the directive that said countries may opt out from testing water from an individual supply providing less than ten cubic metres per day — that is the amount most households use in three months.
That would have meant the majority of people would not have been affected by the legislation but the government removed that provision.
