Water quality

We produce annual reports which include average water hardness figures. To access the report for your area visit our water quality and hardness report page and simply search by postcode.

The water we supply is of the highest quality but occasionally there may be problems. The best thing to do is to read our water in your home page which includes a wealth of advice about the standard of your drinking water. From finding an approved plumber to what to do if your water smells funny or looks cloudy, our factsheets will help. 

We would like to reassure you the make-up of our water has not changed. The quality of our water is paramount to us and it’s a regulation that we continue to test and maintain it.

If you suspect contact with water is causing skin irritation it is advisable that you contact your GP. It is more likely that exposure to allergens from other sources would cause irritation to the skin such as soap or detergents. This could be especially likely at a time when we are all using more hygiene products.

However, a small number of people are sensitive to certain metals that can be picked up in water. For example, high nickel content can cause skin irritation. If you have had any recently installed plumbing this could cause the issue. It is however the homeowner's responsibility to have this investigated.

The levels of chlorine in our water supply have not changed and are not harmful to your health in any way.

However, you may be able to detect more chlorine in your water than usual due to a few factors:

• Chlorine prefers to be a gas rather than dissolved in water. Due to the recent increase in demand with more people at home and the nice weather, the water is taking less time to get to your taps from our treatment works so there has been less opportunity for the chlorine to 'escape' than normal

• Some of our customers may be receiving their water supply from a different treatment works than normal because Gatwick Airport isn’t using as much. Different treatment works use different levels of chlorine depending on the type of raw water they are treating, for example Bough Beech reservoir in Kent is fed from a river so needs more than Elmer in Leatherhead which treats water from under the ground.

• Chlorine is much better at escaping from warm water. Water will warm up in this weather while it sits in supply pipes, for example overnight. This means chlorine will be more noticeable when first used in the day as it’s escaping into the air rather than staying in the water

To help reduce the taste or smell of chlorine you may want to try fully flushing your taps to bring cooler water in or keeping water from a mains fed kitchen tap in a fridge to cool down. Water should only be kept for a maximum of 24 hours and any jug should be emptied and re-filled after each 24 hour period. Any unused or flushed water need not be wasted and instead could be used for watering house plants or outside in the garden. There is more information on the water in your home web page.