Scottish Water Responds to DWQR Annual Report

Scottish Water has welcomed the Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) for Scotland’s Drinking Water Quality in Scotland 2024 Public Water Supplies Annual Report.

The DWQR’s latest annual report shows that Scottish Water’s compliance with the stringent standards for drinking water remains very high, but adds that there are too many avoidable incidents. 

David Reynolds, the Drinking Water Quality Regulator said: “Our drinking water in Scotland is amongst the finest in the world, however we need to invest to ensure this remains true. 

"Scottish Water is managing a number of risks, and I would like to see these greatly reduced by ensuring assets failsafe when things go wrong.”

“Consumers expect their tap water to look and taste good. I am disappointed in the number of incidents where consumers received discoloured water and Scottish Water needs to do more to prevent these situations.”

• The report, covering Drinking Water Quality in Scotland during 2024, states that a total of 156,814 regulatory tests were carried out on samples taken from consumers’ taps, and 99.92% of these met the required standards. 
• 23 out of 62,352 tests on samples of water leaving water treatment works failed to meet standards, a slight decline in performance on 2023.
• Scottish Water received 16,779 complaints from consumers about the quality of their drinking water in 2024, with the majority of these in connection with discoloured water.
• The number of water quality incidents requiring detailed investigation by the DWQR during 2024 was 34, compared with 29 in the previous year, a figure the regulator considers too high. 

Alex Plant, Scottish Water’s chief executive, responded to the key findings:  “We are pleased that this year’s independent report by DWQR has found the drinking water delivered to customers by Scottish Water continues to be of very high quality.

“The regulatory standards set for water quality in Scotland are among the most stringent anywhere in the world and ensuring clean, fresh drinking water for customers is one of the most important things we do.

“Scottish Water will of course continue to respond effectively in areas where the DWQR identifies potential for improvement.  

"A big part of that is reducing risk by investing in the capability of our drinking water treatment works and overall resilience of our network, allowing customers to maintain their trust in Scotland’s world class water both now and in the future.”

A full copy of Drinking Water Quality in Scotland 2024 is available at www.dwqr.org.uk