To ensure water produced and distributed is of the highest quality we operate a quality system for drinking water which is registered by the British Standards Institute and meets the requirements of ISO 9002. The scope of the registration covers collection, abstraction, transfer, treatment, storage, distribution and sampling of drinking water. Where a company fails to meet the required standard the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) can take “enforcement action” obliging the company to undertake remedial work or other action to address the problem.

Last year we carried out over 100,000 water quality tests and 99.9% showed that the drinking water produced by Welsh Water met the required standards.

The average age of Welsh Water’s pipes is about 50 years, although some pipes are over 100 years old. The current condition of our water pipe network can affect water quality at the tap, especially colour, as well as the level of leakage, pressure and the number of bursts. Between 2000 and 2005 we completed the renewal and refurbishment of over 2,000km of water mains at a cost of £179 million. During our current investment programme (2005 -2010 ) we will upgrade a further 2,500km of water mains.

We keep a register of the quality standards of our water supply which you may inspect. The register for South Wales is available at our Nelson Office in Pentwyn Road, Nelson and for North Wales at our Dinas Office in Llanwnda, Nr Caernarfon.