Cookie consent

We use cookies to track how you use our website to help improve your experience and show you personalised content. You can accept the use of all cookies or manage them individually. You can find out more about your options by clicking “manage cookies".

Strictly necessary/functionality cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.

Find out more about our cookies

Wirral non-potable network – Levels of Service

We operate a non-potable water network across a small area of the Wirral, supplying a limited number of industrial customers in and around the Ellesmere Port area with raw, untreated water from the River Dee.

Non-potable water is not suitable for human consumption, however it can be used for a variety of activities when the quality of the water is not critical, such as cooling machinery, toilet flushing, cleaning floors and irrigation.

As non-potable water is raw, untreated water, it is supplied to businesses at a lower cost than treated water.

However, before deciding whether a non-potable supply is right for your business, it is worth pointing out that a supply of this type does not provide the same guarantees as our treated water supply for quality, pressure and flow. We’ve explained more about these limitations below.

  • The non-potable supply is entirely untreated and is abstracted from the River Dee and as such is not suitable for human consumption so its uses are limited compared to treated water.

    The quality of the river water can vary seasonally. For example, it can deteriorate following heavy rainfall and can also be influenced on occasions by tidal reversal over Chester Weir. As such, we’re not able to guarantee the quality of the supply.

    The river water also contains naturally occurring sediments which can accumulate in our water main over time and could be re-suspended by changes in flow/pressure or following a burst on the network. We obviously do what we can to prevent this happening but again it cannot be guaranteed that this won’t occur.

    The River Dee is also at risk of pollution from industrial activity, and also from agricultural activity across the whole of the catchment. A continuous and comprehensive water quality monitoring regime is in place to protect the drinking water abstraction points. In the event of a major pollution incident, it may be necessary to close the river intake for a period to allow the pollution to flow past. If this were necessary, then supply would also be lost to the non-potable network.

  • Water pressure can be influenced by the demand of other customers on the network and limitations in supply pipe capacity. Although we do not provide any guarantees of pressure within our non-potable network, we aim to achieve a minimum of 1.5 bar pressure.

    The flow of water is dependent upon a pumping station located within the Chester area. In the unlikely event of an interruption to pumping, the flow will cease almost immediately so the supply of non-potable water cannot be guaranteed.

  • We do our best to maintain supply and have a good track record of providing a consistent supply through this non-potable network. However, as we cannot guarantee a constant supply of non-potable water it is important that businesses have contingency plans in place to deal with any failure of supply.

    We will always do what we can to restore supply as quickly as possible but priority will be given to household and business customers who receive a potable (treated) water supply from us. This may include prioritising any restoration of supply to the water treatment works supplied from this network, or any other potable water incidents on-going at the time.

    We strongly encourage you to have you own resilience plans in place in the event of the non-potable supply being interrupted. We would advise that you speak to your retailer in the first instance for advice on what contingency measures could be adopted, including additional water storage facilities onsite or access to boreholes or alternative water sources.

  • If you would like to talk to us about the possibility of being supplied by our Wirral non-potable supply please call our developer services team on 0345 072 6067 or email us at developerserviceswater@uuplc.co.uk and we’ll get back in touch.