Each year water companies are inspected. The 1995 inspection found that the Company's arrangements for sampling, analysis and reporting were generally very good, treatment processes were generally satisfactory and improvement programmes were on target. Arrangements for water treatment and distribution were found to be generally satisfactory although some areas required improvement. 15 recommendations were made mainly concerning arrangements for treatment practices and water distribution.

The quality of the water supplied by the Company in 1995 has been generally very good. 99.5% of the 350,921 tests performed by the Company met the standards - the tests were largely made on samples taken from consumers' taps. Of the 0.5% of tests that did not meet the standards, the most significant were for iron, lead and manganese and the Company is carrying out appropriate improvement programmes. Other failures were for hydrogen ion and PAH and the Inspectorate will obtain a commitment from the Company to carry out improvement works.

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 minimise problems with lead and improve its water mains. Lead arises largely because water picks up lead from consumers' lead pipes. The Company is installing treatment to reduce this tendency. Colour, manganese, iron and turbidity arise from old water mains and the Company is replacing or repairing these. The improvements for lead will be completed by September 1997, but work on the mains will extend beyond this date.

Further information If you want more detailed information about quality of drinking water in your local area please contact the Company. Their telephone number is 0345 461324.

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 :