Does it pass the test?

We make sure your drinking water is clean and drinkable at all times. There are certain legally enforceable quality standards from both European Directives and UK legislation that we are measured against. These are known as ‘Prescribed Concentrations or Values’ (PCVs for short!).

In order to be sure that we’re measuring up to these values, we monitor the quality of water as it leaves our water treatment works and service reservoirs. Throughout the North West region, these treatment works and service reservoirs look after some 261 individual areas that we call water supply zones. The water supplied to each zone is usually from one particular water treatment works or service reservoir.

We also measure the quality of drinking water as it reaches our customers, and we do this by taking water samples from customer addresses selected at random within each particular water supply zone. The samples are tested at our laboratories and the results compared with the required legal quality standards. All the test results are recorded on the Drinking Water Register.

You can read about the water quality in your area, and the Water Regs UK have also put together this helpful guide which explains how to look after water in your home (PDF 14.2 MB opens in a new window).