News
Your Water
Summary water quality data at customers taps by area or Postcode
Click here for supply area map and postcode search (opens in a new window)
Introduction
Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water supplies drinking water to over 500,000 people in parts of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. This number increases significantly during the summer months with the influx of visitors to the area. Three quarters of the supply is derived from the Rivers Avon and Stour and the remainder comes from boreholes at Stanbridge, Wimborne, Hale and Lymington.
Safe, good quality water
We should remember that a dependable source of safe drinking water is essential to life. Early methods of purifying drinking water without disinfection were only partially effective against the resilient microbes that can cause cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery.
When chlorination was used as part of properly designed water treatment systems in the early 1900s, these diseases were effectively eliminated. As a result in the UK, we have seen the annual death rate from waterborne diseases drop from 40 per 100,000 at the beginning of the century to virtually nil. The standards of treatment and management mean that the water supply in the U.K. is among the safest in the world.
Safe, good quality drinking water is dependent upon the fulfilment of a number of criteria, not least of which the quality of the source water, which is treated to produce the end product, potable and wholesome water.
Because of the statistical methods used to measure water quality compliance, 100% performance is virtually impossible.
A sample taken from a customer’s tap with defective plumbing for example counts as a ‘failure’ against the standards.
Sampling analysis and monitoring
The result of any test is only as good as the sample that is taken. Our dedicated team of samplers take samples 365 days of the year from treatment works, reservoirs and customer taps. This is to ensure that our water meets the required standards. Sampling is almost a science in its own right with over 30 types of sample containers and a variety of techniques employed.
Microbiological testing provides an important measure of water quality and any non-compliance is taken seriously. Water samples are analysed for bacteria of the coliform group. These are widely distributed, occurring naturally in soil and vegetation. One specific bacterium, E coli, originates from animal contamination. Coliforms occur in large numbers and outlive many harmful bacteria, thus providing a sensitive indicator of water quality. If found in drinking water, they indicate that other harmful bacteria could possibly be present.
The Regulations require all samples to be free from such bacteria, however because they are widespread, samples may occasionally contain low numbers. This does not necessarily mean that there was any deterioration in the quality of the water. Bacteria may be introduced into samples during testing despite strict precautions.
If any sample indicates the presence of coliforms, immediate re-samples are taken and the circumstances are investigated.
Click on the following for further information
Water Quality - Company Profile (pdf 138kb)
Water Quality - Standards Explained (pdf 171kb)
Water Quality Compliance 2009 (pdf 196kb)
Water Quality - Regulation (70kb)
Water Quality- Customer Contacts 2009 (pdf 57kb)
Water Quality - Water hardness (149KB)
Water Quality - Taste and Odour (134kb)
Water Quality - Fluoride (123KB)
Water Quality - Fish keeping in aquariums and ponds (136KB)
