Each year water companies are inspected. The 1995 inspection found that the Company's arrangements for sampling, analysis and reporting were generally very good and that treatment processes were generally satisfactory. Progress with improvement programmes was found to be satisfactory. Twenty-six recommendations for improvements in practices were made.

The quality of the water supplied by the Company in 1995 has been generally very good. 99.3% of the 43,751 tests performed by the Company met the standards - the tests were largely made on samples taken from consumers' taps. Of the 0.7% of tests which did not meet the standards, some were for coliform bacteria. Each time these bacteria were detected the cause was investigated and any problems identified were corrected, although the Inspectorate is obtaining from the Company commitments to carry out further investigations and modifications as necessary in a few cases. The only other significant failures to meet the standards were for iron, PAH and pesticides. For each of these substances the Company is carrying out an improvement programme.

The graph above shows the continued good water quality over the past five years. The Company, as it must, plans to improve the quality even further. It has given legally binding commitments to take steps to meet the standard for pesticides and to improve its water mains. Traces of pesticides can enter water sources. The Company has installed treatment at some works to remove them and improvements are scheduled for completion by 1997. Iron and PAH arise from old water mains and the work to deal with these will extend beyond this date.

If you want more detailed information about the quality of drinking water in your local area please contact the Company. Their telephone number is 01252 835031.

Drinking water standards in England and Wales include all those in the European Community Directive on drinking water and are mainly based on levels recommended by the World Health Organisation. Those of significance to health have generally been set with a wide safety margin. The occasional breaches of the standards which have happened do not mean the water was not suitable for drinking.

The Inspectorate assesses each breach of the standards and if necessary requires water companies to give legally binding undertakings to carry out improvements.

The summary of the 1995 Report gives the results of tests for England and Wales as a whole and sets out in more detail how the quality of your drinking water is checked and the significance of each of the listed substances. Printed copies of each Water Company Summary, and the Summary of the 1995 Report are available from :