Three Valleys Water PLC supplies drinking water to about 2.3 million people living in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Greater London. Over two thirds of the Company's water supplies come from boreholes. The remainder comes from the River Thames and a reservoir. The Company has 81 treatment works and distributes water through 11,000 km of pipes and 126 service reservoirs.
Each year water companies are inspected. The 1995 inspection found that the Company's arrangements for sampling and reporting were generally very good and that treatment processes and progress with improvement programmes were generally satisfactory. Arrangements for analysis were found to be generally satisfactory although some areas on data handling and reporting of results required attention. Nine recommendations were made to the Company mainly concerning reporting arrangements.
The quality of the water supplied by the Company in 1995 has been generally very good. 99.5% of the 97,048 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 nitrite, iron, lead, PAH and pesticides. For lead and some pesticide failures, the Company completed appropriate improvement programmes during 1995. The full effect of these improvements should be seen in the 1996 results. For iron, other pesticides and PAH failures, the Company is carrying out appropriate improvement programmes. For nitrite failures, the Inspectorate will obtain a commitment from the Company to carry out improvement programmes.
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 and improve its water mains. Traces of pesticides can enter water sources and the Company is installing treatment to remove them. Iron and PAH arise from old water mains and the Company is replacing or repairing these. The improvements in respect of pesticides will be complete by December 1997, but work on the water mains will extend beyond this date.
If you want more detailed information about quality of drinking water in your local area please contact the Company. Their telephone number is 0345 823333. |
