Wessex Water Services Limited supplies drinking water to about 1.1 million people in Dorset and Somerset, and parts of Avon, Wiltshire and Hampshire. Just over three quarters of the Company's water supplies come from boreholes and springs. The remainder comes from rivers and reservoirs. The Company has treatment works at 103 sites and distributes water through a network of 10,800km of pipes and 337 service reservoirs.
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 satisfactory. Progress with improvement programmes was generally satisfactory, with a number being completed ahead of schedule. Nine recommendations for improvements in practices were made.
The quality of water supplied by the Company has generally been very good. 99.7% of the 123,530 tests performed by the Company met the standards - the tests were largely made on samples taken from consumers' taps. Of the 0.3% of tests that did not meet the standards some were for coliform bacteria. Each time these bacteria were detected the cause was investigated and the Company is taking or has taken corrective action. The only other significant failures to meet the standards were for iron, lead, 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 improve the microbiological quality of water at one water treatment works and 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 Company completed its improvement programme to reduce the tendency of water picking up lead from consumers lead pipes at the end of 1995. Additional treatment was installed at a number of sites and benefits will be seen in 1996. Most of these improvements were completed by March 1996, but work on the water mains is continuing.
If you want more detailed information about the quality of the drinking water in your local area please contact the Company. Their telephone number is 0117 929 0611. | 
