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Press release 06.07.09
Thames Water ‘top performer’ for water quality
Thames tap water is the best in its class according to the Government’s official quality control watchdog.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), announcing its annual water quality report, said that in 2008 Thames Water’s tap water was 99.99 per cent compliant with national and European standards – the company’s best-ever performance.
This means, for the second year running, the quality of Thames tap is better than all of the other large water and sewerage companies in England and Wales.
Thames Water’s achievement comes as its award-winning* London On Tap campaign, to promote the quality of tap water, enters its second summer - buoyed by the recent arrival of London’s very own tap water carafe, ‘TapTop’.
David Owens, Chief Executive of Thames Water said:
“We had our best-ever operational performance during 2008/09 and I am extremely proud that this includes delivering the best-ever drinking water quality to our customers.
"Our customers’ highest priority is having a clean and reliable source of drinking water - and we work 24 - hours a day to give them exactly that.
“Substantial investment which has been funded by customers bills to improve drinking water quality is paying off. This is reflected by our outstanding results. However, we also need to focus on updating our worn-out pipes and facilities, much of which are Victorian, to safeguard supplies for the future.
“To do this we’re proposing a record £5.5bn investment programme for the next five years to make our network fit for the 21st Century, while keeping bills well below the industry average by 2015, at less than £1 a day.”
On London On Tap, he added:
“Over the last year, through our award-winning London On Tap campaign, we’ve been encouraging Londoners to order tap water when they’re out and about. Britain’s first purpose-designed water carafe is now also being introduced to restaurants and bars across the capital – a top-class vessel in which to serve a top-class product.
“We’ve seen a real change in consumers’ behaviour as they have become more confident about asking for tap water when dining out. It’s very satisfying to know that we’ve helped consumers realise that they do have a choice about what they drink”.
The DWI’s water quality regime is probably the most stringent in the world. Water companies’ results are compiled from an extensive testing programme covering the safety, appearance and taste of drinking water. Average compliance across the whole of the water industry remained at 99.96 per cent.
* Utility Industry Achievement Awards 2008: Marketing Initiative of the year and Business in the Community ‘Big Tick’ Awards for Excellence 2009: Responsible Business and Innovation
Notes to editors:
For further information, images or interview requests please contact Amy Dutton, Thames Water press office 0118 3738935 or
- The DWI report summarises water quality and other information provided by the 27 water companies in England and Wales. It measures how well water companies perform in over 39 different aspects of water quality including taste, odour and colour. Thames Water’s previous drinking water quality results in 2006 were 99.97 per cent and 99.98 per cent in 2007.
- Thames Water received the lowest rate of customers complaints about drinking water quality and provides the most information to customers about the quality of their water during 2008.
- In addition to achieving best-ever water quality, during the last year Thames Water beat its third successive leakage target, replacing more than 260 miles of London’s leaking Victorian mains.
- A taste test comparing bottled water brands with tap water was carried out by Decanter magazine in December 2007 and broadcast by the BBC’s Panorama programme on 18 Feb 2008. Thames Water's tap water was rated third out of 24 varieties tested.
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