Water Supply: Chemicals and Lead

(asked on 13th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the level of (a) lead and (b) other chemicals in the water supply.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 24th May 2021

Drinking water is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Water companies are responsible for monitoring the level of lead and other chemicals in public supplies and local authorities are responsible in private supplies. The drinking water regulations for public and private supplies set sampling frequencies and standards to be achieved. Water companies and local authorities are responsible for identifying risks to the quality of the water and are required to sample the supply for any element, organism or substance that may be at a level which would constitute a potential danger to human health.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate is the regulator for drinking water quality. They hold water companies to account and take action to ensure any failures are addressed. They also provide technical and scientific advice to local authorities.

In 2019, public water supply compliance with the drinking water regulations was 99.96% and private water supply was 96.6%.

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