Water Quality Reports
All companies supplying drinking water must comply with the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000.
For monitoring purposes, samples are collected and analysed at all stages of distribution from treatment works, service reservoirs, and randomly selected customers taps. These samples form part of an extensive sampling programme undertaken to ensure the continuing wholesomeness of the supply and full compliance with the Regulations.
The Company’s area is divided into 23 water quality zones. Each of these zones is supplied either by a single source or a group of sources that are blended within service reservoirs.
Each of our quality zones has its own Water Quality Report. You can now find these reports online, either by following the steps below, or if your computer has the Flash Plug In, you can use our simple interactive map.
If you would like to use the interactive map, please click here.
If you would prefer to use our list based reports, you can do this by following these 3 steps:
- 1. Open our Water Quality Zones PDF Document (104 kb)
- 2. Find the code for your area by looking up your nearest town on the list.
- 3. Use the code to find the report on the list below, then open the Water Quality Report for that area.
Water Quality Zones PDF Document
| Water Quality Zone | Water Quality Report |
|---|---|
| BB | Barr Beacon Report (PDF) |
| BB1 | Barr Beacon 1 Report (PDF) |
| CH | Cannock High |
| CLW | Cannock Low |
| CW | Cawney Hill |
| CWY | Castleway |
| GLA | Glascote |
| HA | Hanbury |
| HG | Hayley Green |
| HW | Hopwas |
| OU | Outwoods |
| RU | Rugeley |
| SG | Sedgley |
| SP | Springsmire |
| SU | Sutton |
| SV | Shavers End |
| SV2 | Shavers End 2 |
| UTT | Uttoxeter |
| WA | Walsall |
| WA1 | Walsall 1 |
| WB | West Bromwich |
| WBY | Wednesbury |
| WIN | Winshill |
What the test results mean
For customers who require information of the water quality within their water supply zone, the next section explains the technical words used in the Water Quality Reports.
Heading
The heading shows the name of the zone (e.g Shavers End 2) and type of parameter (test) covered by the report.
Units
The concentration or value is expressed in different units. Most of the parameters sampled are in milligrams per litre (mg/l) or micrograms per litre (µg/l). These are very small amounts. One mg/l is one part in 1,000,000 parts of water (or 0.0001%). One µg/l is one part in 1,000,000,000 parts of water (or 0.0000001%)
Prescribed Concentration or Value (PCV’s).
These standards are set down in the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000 in line with European (EC) Requirements. They are the acceptable levels of certain elements, compounds or substances which are allowed in drinking water. Usually this is a maximum allowed level but occasionally it can be a minimum allowed level.
Number of samples
This is the number of samples collected from the zone during a period of time usually the previous twelve months.
Number of samples > PCV
This is the number of samples that has breached a parameter limit or PCV.
% > PCV
This column shows the percentage of results, which failed the standard for each parameter sampled. This is expressed as a percentage of the total number of samples for that parameter. For example, 2% shows that 1 sample in 50 failed. In most cases you will see a value of 0, which demonstrates that the water has met the standard every time a sample was collected.
Maximum, mean and minimum
This demonstrates a summary of the results from the tests over the time period. The minimum, mean and maximum concentrations are shown. The < symbol shows that the value recorded was below measurable limits. The mean is calculated by adding up all the results and dividing it by the total number of tests for that parameter.