Service connections

A step-by-step guide

Fill out an application for supply form

After we've received your completed application form, we will be in touch to book in an initial inspection within five calendar days. This visit will be within four weeks of you submitting your application, unless you specifically request it to happen later.

Our engineer will meet with you on site to discuss your project and plan. We’ll let you know where you need to bring your pipework out to and any specifications that need to be met.

We will send you a quote for the work we need to carry out. You will need to arrange for your own contractor to complete the private side work; our costs will be for the connection to our main. This quote will be sent within 28 days of your initial form being submitted.

You will need to take photos of the work your contractor is doing as you go along ready to submit to newsupplies@bristolwater.co.uk when you’re ready for connection. You can find a list of the specific photos we require further down this page.

Once you’ve submitted photos, our engineer will review them within five working days and confirm if it’s passed its final inspection.

At this point you will need to ensure payment of the quote has been made, that you’ve answered any questions from our Water Regulations Team and provided your chlorination certificate, if applicable to your job (our NSA will confirm if this is applicable to you), to ensure we can pass it to be planned.

We’ll then raise the job for connection and our planning team will be in touch within 21 days of the final sign off/payment being made/regs released, depending on which is the last one to get ticked off. We aim to make your connection within 21 days unless your job requires certain traffic management – but either way, we’ll confirm the planned date with you before day 21.

What do I do when I'm ready to be connected?

Please email newsupplies@bristolwater.co.uk advising you are ready for connection to be made and include photos of the following requirements:

• Internal photo showing pipework, 1.5mm blue trace wire, suitable insulation and stop tap in position.
• Point of entry. Clear photo showing the finished floor level (external) confirming the pipe is at a depth of 750mm of cover inside a 100mm (min) duct. Please use a tape measure in the photo to demonstrate the correct depth.
• Photo of trenching. Showing pipework at 750mm of cover, 1.5mm blue trace wire and bed and surround (if requested). Please use a tape measure in the photo to demonstrate the correct depth.
• Pipework at highway boundary. Showing depth at boundary, brought to agreed connection point (X mark) and pipework sealed.
• One overall photo of the site taken from the boundary.
• If you are upgrading your supply, or separating from an existing supply and currently have an internal meter, a photo of the meter clearly showing the meter reading.

Our Network Site Agent (NSA) will review the photos and if they feel a site visit is necessary, one of our team will contact you to book an appointment. If we’re able to sign your job off with the photos you’ve provided, we will do so and no visit will be needed. Once signed off, your job will be passed to our planning team to get you a connection date.

To help ensure your job is passed quickly over to our planning team, please make sure you’ve paid this quote and provided any additional information that has been requested of you from our Network Site Agent, our Water Quality Team or our Water Regulations Team. Once we’ve received these things, we’ll be back in touch within 21 days with your planned connection date.