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-two recommendations for improvements in practices were made.

The quality of the water supplied by the Company in 1995 has been generally very good. 99.5% of the 59,906 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 some were for coliform bacteria. When these bacteria were detected the cause was investigated and generally 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, trihalomethanes and pesticides. For each of these substances the Company is carrying out an improvement programme. There were significant improvements in compliance of the standards for total pesticide and four individual pesticides.

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 remove pesticides, trihalomethanes and improve its water mains. Traces of pesticides can enter water sources. The Company is installing treatment to remove them by December 1996. Iron arises from old water mains and the Company is continuing with replacing or repairing these.

If you want more detailed information about the quality of drinking water in your local area please contact the Company. Their telephone number is 01323 411411.

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 :