Environmental Information Regulations 2004

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) came into effect on 1 January 2005 and from 20 February 2015 became applicable to all water companies, including Portsmouth Water.

This means that members of the public are entitled to request certain environmental information from us.

Please note: Portsmouth Water is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Publicly Available Information

We already make environmental information publicly available – click the subjects below to be taken to that part of our website:

• Drinking Water Quality
• Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP)
• Havant Thicket Reservoir
• Climate Change Adaptation Report
• Community Partnership
• Water Meters
• Water Saving
• Current Business Plan – 2020-2025
• Future Business Plan – 2025-2030
• Outcome Delivery Incentive Reports

We will continue to publish environmental information and add more to this page over time. We will learn more about the types of information our customers require and will look to publish environmental information that has been requested by others.

What Environmental Information can I request?

The definition of “Environmental Information” is very wide and includes any information in written, visual, audio, electronic or any other material form on:

(a)    the state of the elements of the environment, such as air and atmosphere, water, soil, land, landscape and natural sites including wetland, coastal and marine area, biological diversity and its components, including genetically modified organisms, and the interaction among these elements;

(b)    factors, such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and other releases into the environment, affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment referred to in (a);

(c)     measures (including administrative measures), such as policies, legislation, plans, programmes, environmental agreements, and activities affecting or likely to affect the elements and factors referred to in (a) and (b) as well as measures or activities designed to protect those elements;

(d)    reports on the implementation of environmental legislation;

(e)    cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used within the framework of the measures and activities referred to in (c), and;

(f)      the state of human health and safety, including the contamination of the food chain, where relevant, conditions of human life, cultural sites and built structures inasmuch as they are or may be affected by the state of the elements of the environment referred to in (a) or, through those elements, by any of the matters referred to in (b) and (c).

How do I make Environmental Information request?

So that we can assist you promptly, it would be helpful if you could refer to the “EIR” or “Environmental Information Regulations” when making a request along with your contact details, and please be specific about the information you require. Also, please tell us how you would like us to reply (e.g. by letter or email) and in what format.

You can make your request in the following ways:

• By emailing us at [email protected].
• In writing to EIR Requests, Portsmouth Water, PO Box 8, West Street, Havant, Hampshire PO9 1LG.

As long as the information you request exists and is not subject to an exception to disclosure, we will respond to your request within 20 working days. If the request is for a large amount of information that is complex, we can extend this deadline by a further 20 working days. We will let you know if this is the case.

How much will I be charged for the information I have requested?

The EIR allows us to charge a “reasonable fee” for the provision of environmental information.

We will notify you if a fee will be charged and issue an invoice to you for payment. The 20-working day deadline for processing your request will be suspended until we receive the required fee.

We will not ask for payment if the information is held by us in a readily available form and/or if is unlikely to take us more than 4 hours to respond to your request. We may waive some or all our charges in other circumstances where this is reasonable.

Our EIR Charging Schedule is as follows:

What if I am not happy with the way Portsmouth Water has dealt with my request?

We aim to respond appropriately to your request, and certainly in accordance with the EIR.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to the Company Secretary, Portsmouth Water, PO Box 99, West Street, Havant, Hampshire PO9 1LG or you can email us at [email protected].

If you are still unhappy with our response, you can contact the Information Commissioners Office