Water sources.

Amendment of Regulation No 10 of the Minister of the Interior of 18 February 2021 on the requirements and conditions of and procedure for the establishment, testing, use, maintenance, marking and exchange of information of a water source

The provisions relating to the exchange of information are amended: according to the draft, the exchange of information between the owner of the firefighting water source or a person associated with them and the Rescue Board will take place through the building register. Information shall be exchanged, in particular, on the results of testing of the water source, but also in cases where water has been withdrawn from the source or the source does not comply with the imposed requirements.

Mitigation in relation to the distance to the water source: in the case of buildings with a surface area of less than 60 m² or, under certain conditions, buildings with a first use located on different registered immovables, it is permitted to designate the water source closest to the building. This is an important mitigation and should resolve situations where a person, for example, is renovating their outbuilding and, in accordance with the applicable law, has to establish a new water source for the outbuilding. Under the conditions specified in the
draft, the new wording allows the nearest water source to be considered as the water source of a building.
The amendments to the Annexes have taken into account the recommendations of experts in the field but compared to the ones in force, the amendments are rather of a specifying nature while the main principles remain unchanged.