How we make sure your water is clean and safe to drink

The UK has one of the best standards of drinking water in the world, our industry is monitored and regulated to make sure our customers receive only the highest quality. But clean water isn’t just sat around ready to use – it takes a lot of work to treat ‘raw’ water and get it to your tap.

It all starts at the source.
We take water from reservoirs, lakes, rivers, springs, and underground boreholes, we routinely test these sources so we know exactly how to treat the water. To stop larger items and gunk getting into our treatment works, we use giant sieves (know as screening). Then the water gets pumped to our treatment works where it’s processed in a series of tanks.

Getting your water really clean.
We need to get all the bits out of the water, so it’s nice and clear – we do this in 5 stages.

Stage 1 is called Ozonation. We bubble a gas called ozone through the water in big tanks, this turns impurities such as metals, which are dissolved in the water, into particles.

Stage 2 is Coagulation and Flocculation (sticking the bits together). We add a small amount of a coagulant which acts like a glue and makes all the particles stick together and form into clumps.

Stage 3 Clarification. When the clumps sink to the bottom of the tank, we take the clear water from the top.

Stage 4 Filtration. Removing the really tiny bits. We pass the water through giant filters that are made from layers of special sand. Any remaining particles and impurities stay in the sand and the clean water flows out.

Stage 5 is called Adsorption. We use Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) to clean the water. The water flows through big tanks packed full of tiny carbon granules. These granules soak up unwanted tastes, smells, colour, and chemicals dissolved in the water. Leaving it smelling and tasting great.

Ensuring your water is safe to drink.
With all the particles removed the last step is to make sure there are no harmful germs in the water. It flows through a big tank full of long ultra violet light tubes, these zap the water with purifying UV light, which destroys all bacteria and viruses.

Finally, we add a small amount of chlorine to protect the water on its journey through the pipes to your home, and it’s ready to go!

We routinely check the water for quality before it leaves our treatment works and again at our customer’s taps.

All this hard work happens seamlessly every second of every day, 365 days a year – so you can turn on your tap and get sparklingly clear, delicious West Country water, every time.