For customers who have already asked for, or received a report from the Drinking Water Register, the next section explains the technical words used.
The Register summary
Heading
The heading shows the number and name of your zone and the period covered by the report. This will normally be the previous 12 months.
Parameter
PCV or indicator parameter A parameter is a substance or physical property that can be measured in water. In most cases, each parameter has a quality standard which must be met. Examples of parameters are taste, odour, lead, pesticides, aluminium, iron and manganese.
Minimum, average and maximum
The next three columns show a summary of the results from the tests over the time period. The lowest, average and highest concentrations or values recorded are shown. A '<' symbol shows that the value recorded was below measurable limits. The average is calculated by adding up all the results and dividing by the total number of tests for that parameter.
Units
The concentration or values are expressed in different units. Mostly they are 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%).
Percentage failed
This column shows the percentage of tests which fail the standard for each parameter. This is shown as a percentage of the total number of tests for that parameter. For example, 2% shows that 1 sample in 50 failed. In most cases you will see a value of 0.00% which shows that the water has met the standard every time. We investigate all failures thoroughly and take action to sort out any problems.