Of the 3.2 million tests carried out in 1995 by the 31 water companies, 99.5% showed that the standards had been met. Drinking water is generally of a very high quality throughout England and Wales and is steadily improving.

The improvement can also be seen by looking at the number of tests not meeting the standards in each year.

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The 1995 results for some important aspects of drinking water quality are given in the target diagram.

The diagram shows that the target is for 100% of zones to meet all the standards. Like a marksman trying to hit the bull's eye the water companies cannot control everything. Their results can be affected by unforeseen events, such as exceptionally heavy rain. Improvement programmes are in hand aimed at achieving 100% compliance, which is the legal requirement.