‘Scotland’s tap water is first class – but we need to make sure it stays that way’

Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland’s annual report

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) for Scotland’s latest annual report shows that Scottish Water’s compliance with the stringent standards for drinking water remains very high, although continued investment is needed to ensure it stays that way in the face of a number of challenges.

Matt Bower, the Drinking Water Quality Regulator said: “Our drinking water in Scotland is amongst the finest in the world; however, ageing water treatment assets and changing source water quality mean that we cannot take this for granted.

“We must ensure that the scale and pace of investment in the maintenance and replacement of water assets is sufficient to safeguard the consistently high quality of our drinking water for future generations.”

• The report, covering Drinking Water Quality in Scotland during 2023, states that a total of 272,017 regulatory tests were carried out on Scotland’s drinking water last year. Of those tests on samples taken to represent quality at consumers’ taps, 99.88% met the required standards. A direct comparison with previous years is not possible due to changes in the numbers and locations of samples.
• The quality of water leaving water treatment works and treated water storage points, while still high, showed a slight deterioration in compliance with the standards on the previous year.
• The number of water quality incidents requiring detailed investigation by the DWQR during 2023 was 29, a very similar figure to previous years.
• A full copy of Drinking Water Quality in Scotland 2023 is available at www.dwqr.org.uk