Wednesday September 10th 2025
Photo by Manki Kim
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Luke Jackson
The Drinking Water Regulator for Scotland (DWQR) have said that ‘Scotland’s tap water quality is impressive, but more needs to be done to reduce risk’.
The regulators latest annual report shows that Scottish Water’s compliance with the stringent standards for drinking water remains very high, however 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 fail-safe 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.
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